If history is any indication, just 1 in 3 voters will return their mail-in ballots for tomorrow’s RTA Next election.
In other words, hundreds of thousands of green ballots will never be returned, and will keep sitting on kitchen tables only to be eventually tossed into a landfill.
In this single-issue, countywide mail-in election, turnout will be crucial and more than likely some of your family, some of your friends, and your neighbors are going to let other people decide regional transportation plans for the next two decades. (Or not, completely resetting how the region handles transit and roads for the next few years if voters reject RTA Next.)
Of the six people pictured in this RTA Next stock photo, statistics suggest only two people returned their ballots so far.
As of Friday, the Pima County Recorder’s Office had processed 186,670 ballots for Propositions 418 and 419, while the county has sent out 656,455 to registered voters. It is a respectable 28% turnout for a special election with a deadline of tomorrow.
Here is how that turnout rate compares to previous elections, although we concede it isn’t a simple apples-to-apples comparison.
The 2006 county-wide RTA election was also a special, single-issue election, and had about 26% turnout when it passed.
The county’s Proposition 463 in 2018 asked voters to approve $430 million in bonds for regional road reconstruction and repair. The proposition was on the November midterm ballot, and it failed with roughly 74% of voters casting ballots.
Last year’s Proposition 414 was also a special, single-issue election held in the spring. The city-only election had about 28% turnout, with voters rejecting the half-cent sales tax increase.
Still on the fence?
We’re not here to tell you how to vote on Propositions 418 and 419.
But you should vote.
And we do have this handy voter guide to help you get a grip on what the election means.
Plus, there are plenty of other places to find more information, including the Regional Transportation Authority’s dedicated informational pages.
Connect Pima, the political action committee that has spent more than $1.2 million asking voters to approve Proposition 418 and 419, has its own web page (and has bought a lot of social media ads.)
And Tucson Deserves Better, the political action committee working to kill RTA Next, also has a full-fledged website and social media pages.
Social media posts from Connect Pima (left) and Tucson Deserves Better (right) argue over safety of Tucson roads.
Returning your ballot
If you still have one of those sealed ballots in a green envelope, you have a few options before tomorrow’s 7 p.m. deadline.
The Pima County Recorder’s Office in downtown Tucson has a monitored 24/7 drop-off location at 240 N. Stone Avenue. The same office will offer a manned, drive-up location today between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Other drop-off locations include the Recorder's southside office, located at 6550 S. Country Club, and the City of Tucson’s Ward 2 Office, located at 7820 E Broadway Boulevard. Both will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and have monitored 24/7 drop off boxes
The new “votemobile” — a mobile polling place manned by the Pima County Recorder’s Office — will be at the Nanini Library on 7300 N. Shannon Road, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Have you sent in your ballot and want to check where it is in the process? You can look it up here.
So, as you eye that envelope sitting on your kitchen table, consider this: Your vote will rarely have more weight than it does right now.
This isn’t a big, presidential election where millions of Arizonans will cast their ballots. It’s a small, local election where the vast majority of voters won’t bother to return their ballots.
If the pattern holds, you could be one of a handful of people who determine how much sales tax you pay and what kinds of roads you drive on for the next 20 years.
Here are the top events this week for those who want a front-row seat to local politics.
The Democrats of Greater Tucson meet virtually today at 6 p.m. The guest speaker is Kimber Lanning, founder of Local First Arizona. (Register)
The Pima County Democratic Party will host a town hall with author and former Border Patrol agent Jenn Budd. (Register)
The Pima County Republican Club meets on Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. at The Kettle just west of I-10 on 22nd St.
The City of Tucson will hold an in-person forum at Tucson Electric Power’s offices downtown to discuss the proposed 25-year Energy Sharing Agreement on Tuesday at 1 p.m. (Register)
The Rio Nuevo Board will meet virtually on Tuesday at 4 p.m.(Agenda and live-stream)
The Tucson Unified School District Governing Board meets Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at the Duffy Community Center, 5145 E. 5th Street, in the Multipurpose Room. (Agenda and live-stream)
The deadline to drop off your ballot for the RTA Next election is Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Moving is never easy: The TUSD Governing Board is moving into the former Tucson Electric Power building north of downtown. Simple enough. But beneath the surface, a complicated financial situation turned an expected windfall into a headache, Arizona Daily Star columnist Tim Steller writes. From a drop in enrollment at the University of Arizona to budget cuts at TUSD to the way the district spent federal pandemic money, the move is much more than just packing up papers and driving to a new building.
He speaks!: Republican U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani sat down with Punchbowl News last week for a rare public discussion. Ciscomani explained his “no” vote on the War Power Resolution that would have restricted the president’s ability to attack Iran, as well as whether Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales (whose staffer committed suicide after having an affair with Gonzales) should stay in the race (Gonzales dropped his re-election bid last week) and what Ciscomani thinks about Democrats holding up a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security.
Students step up: Pueblo High School students, 90% of whom identify as Latino, are developing plans for rapid response observers — like those in Minneapolis — to monitor ICE activity near their school, Noor Haghighi reports for Arizona Public Media. And up in Surprise, ICE is converting a warehouse into a 1,500-bed immigration detention center, about a half-mile from Dysart High School and Dysart Middle School. Cali Overs, the student body vice president at the high school, is worried that hundreds of Latino students will be driving and walking to school as ICE agents prowl around, AZFamily’s Austin Walker reports. Speaking of those warehouses, ICE is so awash with cash that it’s paying top dollar for warehouses across the country, including paying $129 million for a warehouse in New Jersey that was assessed for $62 million, per USA Today.
Attention, tax filers: The head of the Sahuarita Food Bank is hoping Southern Arizonans will send a little money to the food bank as they do their taxes, Kim Smith reports for the Green Valley News. The food bank saw a big drop in food donations and monetary donations over the past year. That’s partly because many seniors who are usually reliable donors also live on fixed incomes and the rising cost of living is hitting them hard.
Times are tight right now for a lot of people. If you have the means, please include a paid subscription to the Tucson Agenda in your budget.
Say hello to Dodger: Since we’re talking a lot about the RTA today, KGUN’s Eddie Celaya has an example of how that kind of money gets spent. Residents of the area near Grant and Dodge are looking forward to a new public art installation and a flood-control basin in their neighborhood. The art installation will include a 20-foot-tall sculpture of a red coyote named “Dodger.” Construction on the Grant Road project in midtown is expected to last for the rest of the year.
You don’t stop having heroes or celebrity crushes once you get into Congress.
Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva posted on Twitter about meeting actress Lynda Carter, who played Wonder Woman from 1976 to 1979.
We’re guessing Grijalva would be less thrilled to meet Carter’s sister — state Rep. Pamela Carter (R-Paradise Valley) — if given the chance.
If you were curious, Lynda campaigned for Grijalva and urged Arizona residents to vote against her sister in 2024.