PHOENIX — It is "go time" for election workers nationwide, including right here in the Valley.
With early voting completed, Tuesday is your last chance to make sure your voice is heard in this election.
Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates, who worked as an elections attorney, says the county is expecting record turnout and has 246 polling centers to try to accommodate that — the most ever.
With tighter and tighter races here, we may not see all the contests called on election night, similar to what we saw in the last presidential election.
But there's one thing Gates says he hopes we don't get a repeat of: threats against election workers.
"That's particularly troubling to me," explains Gates.
It's something that's not just happening in Arizona - it's happening across the country. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, threats and harassment against election workers were up eight percent last year, recent surveys show.
"They never signed up to be victims of harassment, harassed as they walk out of the tabulation center or vote center after working a 14-hour day. It's wrong. It needs to stop."
It's something Supervisor Gates is all too familiar with. After the 2020 and 2022 elections, he was the subject of threats - even death threats.
"Some very specific ones," Gates explains. "And they were via e-mail, telephone calls to our office, to my cell phone, and on social media."
Gates describes the experience as "literally traumatic." He says it began a period of him feeling withdrawn, distracted, and angry, especially when seeing people in his own party who accused him of trying to steal an election without any proof. Despite claims to the contrary, there is no evidence to support accusations of widespread voter fraud in Arizona elections.
Gates credits his wife with helping him realize he needed professional help.
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"Within a week, I was in therapy for the very first time in my life," Gates explains. "And it wasn't easy to admit, but it was the right thing for me."
That therapy led to a PTSD diagnosis, but the hardest part for Gates was the criticism and threats that were hurled at his wife and children.
"When your choice starts to impact them directly, their self-worth, that's incredibly hard to deal with as a father and I have felt guilty about that, quite frankly. The one good thing is that we get to talk this a lot and make sure they are getting the support that they need and I couldn't be prouder of how they did respond to this - and the resilience they have developed."
Despite this, Gates says he still sees some positive takeaways; Gates explains he loves to see the high level of participation and engagement, but wants everyone to remember the impact of their words. It's something all of us, regardless of how we vote, need to keep in mind.
