PHOENIX — America voted on Tuesday and, in Maricopa County, where you live will determine what you helped decide. Cities like Phoenix, Glendale, and Surprise had bond issues asking voters to approve future projects and 23 School Districts requested bonds or overrides.
On the campus of the Madison Elementary School District, a steady stream of voters came during lunchtime to drop off their ballots.
"Support the schools and they said my taxes wouldn't go up," Norma Moore laughed.
Madison Elementary is one of the Maricopa County school districts seeking bonds or overrides.
"I got two young kids, 4 years old and a 1-year-old. I want to vote for things hopefully to improve their future life here in Arizona," Bronson Naab said as he was leaving.
"I voted against all of them," Dan Tweedy countered. "I just thought, you know, they didn't handle their money well and they shouldn't get any more."
Across Maricopa County, elections officials say voter turnout may reach 25% by the time it is calculated, which would be slightly higher than the turnout was in 2021, the last time there was an off-year election in Maricopa County.
"It seems like people are more attuned to some of these political debates also since COVID maybe more people have been fascinated with what's happening at their local school district level," County Recorder Stephen Richer said.
Since the 2020 election, workers in Arizona have been targets of intimidation and threats. Election officials in 13 of Arizona's 15 counties resigned or retired.
"Agony is an apt word to describe the last four years that election administrators have experienced and that's true across the country," Richer said. The county's chief elections officer quickly adds his office is concentrating on making sure the people who want to participate in this election can.
As of the weekend, 400,000 of the 1.9 million ballot packets mailed to voters were returned. Richer estimates as many as 50,000-60,000 people dropped off their ballots Tuesday.
Across the state, voters in Flagstaff did not support Proposition 480.
A spokesperson with Northern Arizona Healthcare shared a statement with ABC15 on Tuesday:
"Northern Arizona Healthcare is disappointed that Flagstaff voters did not support Prop. 480, which would have changed the zoning on the property we own near I-17 and I-40. NAH cannot build a new hospital there without the zoning change, and NAH also cannot continue to renovate Flagstaff Medical Center.
To keep our commitment to Flagstaff and the region to provide a modern healthcare facility capable of serving our community, we are evaluating alternative locations for a new hospital. It is imperative that we expand, as FMC already is out of space for adult patients many days, which leads to long wait times in the Emergency Department and local patients transported to Phoenix hospitals."
To check preliminary election results, you can see them posted on the Maricopa County Election Department's website.
