Taking attendance on the campaign trail

Tip of the hat to candidates who showed up to debates ... Some didn't bother... County recorder closes early ballot portal.

If you need a bit of political sunshine as we head into the final days of a long campaign season, consider this: Most candidates in Pima County were ready and willing to face the public.

Voters don’t get many chances to ask candidates questions or size up political rivals side-by-side. That usually only happens at forums and debates hosted by groups like the League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson or the Citizens Clean Elections Commission.

It takes guts, and respect for the political process, to stand up in front of voters and explain why they should pick you. When we looked back on this year’s local campaigns, we came away with a long list of candidates who stepped up and accepted invitations to make their case to voters.

But there were some notable exceptions.

Today, we’re borrowing from The Colbert Report comedy show and giving a “tip of the hat” to the candidates who participated in debates, and a “wag of the finger” to the ones who didn’t.

Tip of the hat: Almost every candidate for Pima County supervisor seats.

You can go right down the list of candidates, both Republican and Democrat. They all showed up to forums hosted by the League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson.

Except one.

Voters heard Republican Supervisor Steve Christy and Democratic challenger Vanessa Bechtol answer questions in the District 4 race about housing affordability, homelessness, economic development, and other issues.

The same could be said for Democrat Jen Allen and Republican Janet Wittenbraker (who also participated in forums when she ran for mayor of Tucson last year) in District 3, or Democratic Supervisor Matt Heinz and Republican John Backer in District 2.

Even in District 5, where Democratic Supervisor Adelita Grijalva is likely to handle a challenge from independent Val Romero with ease, both candidates took the time to answer questions from voters.

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The only exception came in what could be the tightest supervisor race this year. The District 1 race is a rematch of the 2020 election, when Democrat Rex Scott eked out a win over Republican Steve Spain by just 730 votes.

When it came time to face voters on August 31, Spain didn’t show up to a candidate forum to spar with Scott.

We asked Spain why he didn’t show. He said he already had plans at the time of the forum, and didn’t want his campaign volunteers out working in the heat without him.

“I never accepted the invitation and I never planned to go,” Spain said.

Without both candidates present, the league’s rules as a nonpartisan group only allowed them to let Scott read a statement.

Wag of the finger: Republicans in Legislative District 17

The races in LD17 are some of the most consequential in the state, with control of the Legislature in the balance.

But the Republican candidates for two House seats were nowhere to be found at a Clean Elections debate. Instead of a lively back-and-forth among Republican Reps. Rachel Jones and Cory McGarr and their Democratic challenger, Kevin Volk, voters watched a short Q and A with Volk.

The same thing happened during the primaries. Volk ran unopposed, so he didn’t have a debate. Jones and McGarr were fending off a Republican challenger, but they still didn’t show up to the debate.

The Senate race wasn’t much better. Former lawmaker Vince Leach declined to participate in the general election debate, denying voters the chance to see how his positions stacked up with those of Democrat John McLean. Just like in the House races, voters only got a short Q and A with the Democratic candidate.

Leach did participate in a debate during the contentious Republican primary season, but Sen. Justine Wadsack didn’t attend, so voters couldn’t size them up side-by-side. Instead, voters listened to a Q and A with Leach (moderated by Curt).

Tip of the hat: Legislative candidates who probably are going to win, but showed up anyway

A tip of the hat to incumbent Democratic Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, who flew solo at the LD21 forum. The other incumbent, Democratic Rep. Consuelo Hernandez, didn’t show up (although she did for the primary election debate). Neither did their long-shot Republican challenger Christopher Kibbey.

While we’re at it, a tip of the hat goes to all three candidates for House seats in LD18. Incumbent Democratic Reps. Christopher Mathis and Nancy Gutierrez participated in their debate, along with Republican Leonard Rosenblum.

We focused on Southern Arizona candidates today, while our sister newsletter the Arizona Agenda tackled no-shows in the rest of the state’s legislative races, including a debate that ended up just being a guy answering questions from his parked car.

Closing the window: Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly shut down her office’s online portal to request an early ballot about a week before the deadline, saying her office was overwhelmed. The move, which was likely illegal, may have cost thousands of voters the chance to request an early ballot, Jim Nintzel writes for the Tucson Sentinel. Voters who filled out the online form right before the office shut it down were sent an email saying they had to call and request a ballot instead, and the office didn’t own up to the error until asked about it.

“We just didn't think it was a story,” Marion Chubon, the office’s chief deputy, told Nintzel.

Need to clarify: A federal judge told the Pima County Sheriff’s Department to clarify what type of clothing deputies are allowed to wear while protesting, Arizona Public Media’s Hannah Cree reports. The ruling came after Sheriff Chris Nanos suspended a deputy for protesting Nanos while wearing clothing that Nanos deemed similar to on-duty attire. The judge denied a request to end the suspension of Sgt. Aaron Cross and agreed Cross was trying to look like an on-duty deputy while holding a sign that said “Deputies Don’t Want Nanos.” But the judge said the department wasn’t clear about exactly what deputies weren’t allowed to wear while protesting.

Call to the public: The Pima Association of Governments wants feedback from the public as they develop the Regional Active Transportation Plan. They’re working on a longterm vision for bicycle and pedestrian improvements and they’re asking people to fill out a survey.

10 is a lot: Joe Watson, the former communications director for Pima County Attorney Laura Conover, figured he should have no problem petitioning the courts to restore his voting rights, considering he’s had a pretty successful life since finishing his decade in prison. But the courts shot him down, he wrote in an op-ed for the Arizona Mirror urging lawmakers to adopt policies to automatically restore voting rights to felons. Arizona does already restore voting rights to people convicted of a single felony. But Watson, a former reporter, was convicted of 10 felonies following a string of armed robberies in 2007.

221,664: Ballots returned by Pima County voters as of October 27.