 NEWS FROM THE COCONINO COUNTY DEMOCRATS September 18, 2024 In this edition: Read the Letter From the Chair, Laura Carter, and find information and recommendations on the many ballot propositions. Learn how PC’s can help their neighbours and have a stronger impact on the election. We also have a link and information for you to make a plan for voting in this election. Save the date for the upcoming Democracy Fair, and much more.  Dear Democrats and Friends, The 2024 General Ballot drops in 21 days and our big blue Ballot Guide will be mailed to 50,000 Coconino County voters the same day. Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told the recent State Committee Meeting “the easiest and most effective way you can help us win for Democrats is to vote the whole ballot and get it in the mail early.” Join us at the Democracy Fair on October 5th; one month before the election, two days before voter registration is closed, and one week before ballots arrive by mail. Hear from the Yes on 139 campaign to enshrine abortion healthcare access in the Arizona State Constitution. AZ Corporation Commission candidates will equip us with the information we need to support them in this race, which will determine our state’s energy future. Meet the county candidates and learn how we can support those facing challengers. We’ll have allies, crafts, food and a joyful celebration of Democracy. Thank you to the Arizona Democratic Party for the generous grant to produce this event. We’ve got 250 Harris-Walz yard signs in the office, and more coming next week. Stop by Monday through Friday, 10-2 and pick some up to share! Getting out the vote in a big way is critically important in races up and down the ticket. Governor Walz called me last week from a Debate Watch event in Phoenix. He coached us to turn our enthusiasm into contacts with voters. Canvass, phone bank, write a letter to the editor, host a candidate, provide supporter housing, put up a yard sign. Invite your neighbors, friends, family, and people in line at the grocery store to the October 5 Democracy Fair. On November 5 we will gather at the Orpheum Theater in Flagstaff for our Election Watch Party, knowing we did everything we could every day from now until then to make it a celebration. GOTV starts the weekend of October 12 and continues every weekend until the Final Four, November 2-5. In 2022, we knocked on just under 18,000 doors…this is the year to beat that record, Ballot Guide in hand. Click here to sign up. When we fight, we win! Laura Carter Have you communicated with your elected representative? Did he or she respond? Were your issues adequately addressed? Please let our Research & Messaging Committee know about your experience communicating with your elected representative by emailing us at the following address: We are especially interested in communications with: Representative Eli Crane Bob Thorpe (former Arizona legislator and candidate for Coconino County Recorder) Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers Arizona State Representative Walter Blackman Arizona State Representative David Marshall Your feedback will help inform our messaging around candidates in these final weeks.  One Approach To Working as a PC A letter to fellow PC’s from Darrell Boomgaarden My precinct is The Ranches, 84 and I’m the only PC. I don’t claim to be an expert at being a PC but I thought it might help to just start a dialogue about how to make the PC role work. Unlike many of you, I am not a door-to-door kind of guy. That canvasing approach isn’t for me. I realize it is probably the most effective way to interact with people – it’s not my cup of tea. My precinct has about 300 total registered voters in it. Of these about 150 are Republicans and about 70 are registered Democrats. There are actually more people in my precinct but I live in an area with a lot of second homes and many of my folks are registered somewhere else. The start of early voting is less than a month away. I feel a great urgency to connect with my folks. I want them to know they have a resource they can call on if they have any questions about the Democratic party, the ballot, key issues, etc. So here’s what I did to connect with my folks: I ran a VAN report that listed all registered Democrats in my precinct. (If you are not a VAN user, email Nancy Branham at to get the list of Democrats in your precinct.) For those that had telephone numbers, I put them into my Contacts – I wanted to know if they called me who they were so I’d answer the call – normally, if I don’t recognize the number I let it go to voice mail. I prepared a short text that told them who I was, what my contact info was, commented that this election was critical, strongly urged them to vote, that the ballot is likely to be complex, and that I was always available to answer questions. I then sent this text to all of my Dems who had a phone number – it was about 60 of my total. I sent them one at a time but it didn’t take too long. For those that I did not have a phone number for, I put the same info as I had in the text on a postcard and sent it to them. After this outreach I got about 20 responses. They were all very positive and they felt it was a great help to them that there was a neighbor of theirs who they could reach out to with questions or help. In about 3 or 4 cases, these people have since signed up to volunteer for a variety of tasks. My plan is to reach out again to the Dems in my precinct as we get closer to the time when mail-in ballots will be arriving. I want to remind them of my contact info, that the ballot is complex, to inform them that the ballot guide recommendations will be arriving soon and to strongly urge them to vote. I’ll be interested to see what kind of Democratic turn out I get in my precinct this time. Hope this helps. Again, this is just one of many approaches. The important thing that, as a PC, you NEED to “DO SOMETHING” to make this election be as successful as we all hope it will be. Darrell Boomgaarden Be Part of Protecting This Election! One of the most powerful and important contributions you can make in the upcoming election is also one of the easiest: simply watching as voters, poll workers, and election officials carry out their roles. Your careful observation and your understanding of the process will be the antidote to any post-election claims of fraud or corruption. Serving as a poll observer is the front line of voter protection. You check whether the doors are open and ballots are available when the polls are due to open at 6 am. You watch how voters are greeted, their identification checked, and their ballots handled throughout the day. And you see whether everyone waiting in line at 7 pm, when the polls close, is allowed to vote. In the unlikely event of any problems (for example, long lines, lack of ballots, voter harassment), you can report through an on-line system to a crew from the Arizona Democratic Party who work with election officials to correct the situation. Recruitment of poll observers is now starting for the General Election. First step — you must sign up on the Arizona Democratic Party volunteer interest form: https://bit.ly/3z6cpx1 Please sign up now to start receiving all the background info. Next, sign up for one of the on-line trainings. These are excellent preparation – and they also provide you with a wonderful reference manual for your use if any questions arise while you are observing. Finally – the training introduces you to the on-line reporting tool (called LBJ) that is available to you on Election Day. https://www.mobilize.us/jumpstartaz/event/669345/ We are also organizing observers for the Recorder’s Office, where early ballots have envelope signatures verified, and the Elections Center, where ballots are counted or tabulated. Early voting begins October 9, and ballot opening and tabulation will begin shortly after that! So if you are interested in taking a shift or two at the Recorder’s Office in downtown Flagstaff, or at the Elections Center in Flagstaff, instead of or in addition to an Election Day assignment at a polling place, please let know ASAP and we will get you an assignment. It takes a village to cover all the polling places in our huge County. And because early ballots will be coming in and being counted throughout October and beyond, there will be many chances to watch and learn about these crucial processes. Thanks for your willingness to help protect our voters and our election!  Voting in Coconino County: Make Your Plan! This fall’s ballot is long – VERY long! County elections officials estimate that it will take the average voter 25 minutes to read through, with 34 races and 15 propositions to vote on. Without some advance thought and preparation, voters might find the ballot frustrating or confusing. So we are echoing the County’s message: now is the time to make your voting plan. First choice to make in your plan: are you voting in person or on an early, so-called “mail-in” ballot? Mail-in ballots offer the great advantage of flexibility and no time pressure. You can go slowly through the choices, consulting reference resources, and take all the time you need. But of course, some people do enjoy the ceremony of going to vote in person! Early ballots will be mailed automatically to anyone whose voter registration shows that they are on the AEVL (Automatic Early Voting List). You can check if you are at https://my.arizona.vote . If you are not on that list, but you want an early ballot, you can ask for one through the Recorder’s Office. Next choice for early ballot voters is deciding how to return your ballot. You can certainly return it by mail; the U.S. Postal Service has special rules for expediting election-related mail. We recommend putting your ballot in the mail at least a week prior to Election Day (November 5). You can also put an early ballot in any drop box, right up through 7 pm on Election Day, or take it straight to the Recorder’s Office in downtown Flagstaff. Finally, you can drop off an early ballot at any physical voting location on Election Day. (Remember to sign your ballot envelope and to include your phone number, so you can be contacted if there are any problems with your ballot.) If you prefer to vote in person, you also have some options! There are eight (8) early voting locations across the county. Some locations can provide a ballot for any county voter, while others permit voting only for residents of certain precincts. For any information on early voting, whether in person or on a “mail-in” ballot, see the Recorder’s Office section of the Coconino County Elections page (https://www.coconino.az.gov/195/Elections). If you plan to vote in person on Election Day, you should identify your polling place ahead of time. Coconino County will have 15 Vote Centers, where registered voters from any part of the county can vote. But there will also be more than 20 local precinct polling places. All voting locations will also have Express Vote machines, offering voting for those who are visually impaired or who wish to vote in Spanish, Navajo, or Hopi. Polling places and Vote Centers will open at 6 am on Tuesday November 5, and remain open until 7 pm. If you are in line at 7 pm, you WILL be allowed to vote! Given the length of the ballot, there may well be lines at some locations on Election Day. Plan ahead for where, and at what time of day, you will go to vote, to give yourself enough time. For information on Election Day voting, including all voting locations, see the Elections Department section of the Coconino County Elections page (https://www.coconino.az.gov/195/Elections). Please let all your family, friends, and neighbors know – voting will be hugely important this fall, and all of us should spend a few minutes planning how, when, and where we will let our voices be heard! ARIZONA STATEWIDE BALLOT PROPOSITIONS NOVEMBER 2024 Background and Recommendations from the Research & Messaging Committee PROP 133 – Enshrine current partisan primary system into the state Constitution – VOTE NO. Our current primary system is designed to favor the most extreme candidates. If we enshrine it in the Constitution we will find it very difficult to experiment in the future with alternative election processes. Passing this proposition would also make it impossible for local jurisdiction from trying alternative voting methods. Furthermore, making this part of the Constitution would cement a system that requires independent voters, and no one else, to proactively select a partisan ballot in order to vote in the primary. PROP 134 – Amends the Constitution to require signatures for citizen initiatives to be collected at a set percentage of voters in EACH of the state’s 30 legislative districts. VOTE NO. This proposition would effectively end all citizen initiatives. A single district could effectively get veto power over all the rest, meaning the most extreme area in the state could veto a measure that has broad support everywhere else. The Legislature doesn’t need a lawmaker from each district to vote for a bill in order to pass it, just a simple majority. This is part of a national push to limit citizen ability to enact laws that the extremists don’t like. PROP 135 – Amends the Constitution to automatically end the governor’s special powers related to emergency declarations after 30 days. -VOTE NO. While the proposition excludes fires and flood emergencies, it would seriously affect our ability to cope with climate change and pandemics, for example. At any one time there may be dozens of state disaster declarations. For example, the fact that Arizona is in a drought has been an emergency declaration since 1999. This proposition would require the legislature to reconvene, even when not in session, to decide to extend a specific disaster declaration every 30 days. If the declarations are arbitrarily closed it would seriously affect our ability to obtain federal disaster funding as well. Removing this ability puts us all in danger. PROP 136 – Amends the Constitution to allow anyone to sue to invalidate a citizen initiative, even before it is placed on the ballot. VOTE NO. This proposition, in effect, would require citizen groups to fundraise to defend potential lawsuits before we, the voters, have even had a chance show our support or not. It is significant that this proposition only applies to Citizen Initiatives and not Legislative Referrals. PROP 137 – Amends the Constitution to eliminate the current retention process for judges in Arizona’s 4 most populous counties. VOTE NO. This proposition would allow these judges to serve until the mandatory retirement age of 70, instead of facing public retention elections every 4 to 6 years. A key provision of this proposition is that it is RETROACTIVE and hence, would negate any judicial retention votes in the November election. The Arizona judiciary is already heavily politicized, we need to retain whatever citizen review we can. PROP 138 – Amends the Constitution to create a sub-minimum wage for tip workers. VOTE NO. This proposition would allow restaurants to pay tipped workers 25% less than the minimum wage currently set by state law. These same lobbyists strongly oppose any minimum wage and sick leave protections for restaurant staff. PROP 139 – Amends the Constitution to guarantee a woman’s right to receive abortion care. VOTE YES. This proposition would guarantee a woman’s right to receive reproductive care including an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the uterus (up to 24 weeks). It allows exceptions beyond this point if it is necessary to preserve the life, physical or mental health of the woman. This proposition is essential to keep state lawmakers out of private and personal health care decisions. A doctor should never have to wonder how close to death a woman has to be before they can provide care. PROP 140 – Amends the Constitution to open primaries to all party affiliations. VOTE NO. With this proposition all candidates would appear on the same primary ballot that would be sent to all voters. This sounds good but there is a fatal flaw. The proposition gives state lawmakers the power to decide how many candidates will advance to the general election in each race. Lawmakers would also be able to change this number of candidates every 6 years. Furthermore, if the legislature fails to act, then the Secretary of State, all by him/her self would decide on the number of candidates going to the general. This proposition opens the door to legislative meddling and giving them any more power over our elections is a recipe for chaos. PROP 311 – Creates a law to add a $20 fee to every criminal conviction to give the families of first responders, who are killed in the line of duty, $250,000. VOTE NO. It turns out that the families of fallen first responders already receive considerable benefits from the federal government, state pension plans, individual agencies that provide life insurance to their members and private entities like the 100 Club. A better use of the state’s resources would be to care for our first responders while still alive with added health care benefits, wages and mental health support. Prop 312 – Requires cities and counties to give property tax owners tax refunds if they “decline to enforce” laws criminalizing homelessness. VOTE NO. This proposition is aimed at laws that deal with illegal camping, obstructing public thoroughfares, loitering and panhandling, and the like. This proposition does nothing to fix homelessness. Cities had been constrained on enforcing urban camping laws, for example, by a 2019 court ruling. This ruling has been overturned by the Supreme Court. Consequently, cities are free to enforce their laws relative to the aspects of Prop 312. Therefore, this proposition is not needed. Prop 313 – Those convicted of sex trafficking of minors to spend life in prison without parole. VOTE NO. Current law already allows courts to impose very harsh sentences for sex trafficking – with a single conviction carrying a presumptive 20-year sentence. Additional charges can lead to “stacking” that could lead to a life term. This proposition could lead to sex trafficking victims or their families to being caught up in the situations that could lead to their convictions and life sentences. Prop 314 – A sweeping measure that makes it a state crime to cross a federal border illegally. VOTE NO. This proposition is a resurrection of the old SB 1070 measure of a decade ago. It gives local police immunity to arrest those they simply suspect of crossing the border illegally, enabling racial profiling without consequences. It is estimated that enforcing Prop 314 would cost the tax-payers $325 million per year and the measure does not include any funding. The measure is opposed by county attorneys – one of which said, “criminal provisions are unenforceable, bad public policy, and embarrassing for the state.” Prop 315 – Would block agencies from creating rules that would increase regulatory costs by more than $500,000 over 5 years. VOTE NO. This proposition would effectively prevent our state government from functioning. It would allow the Legislature to decide on what rules and procedures our state government can implement. It upends the separation of powers concept in government totally. This measure carries profound consequences not only for the rule of law but also for how agencies function as they protect us against everything from pollution and contaminated food to workplace hazards and rising drug prices. Note: Friends of Flagstaff’s Future has a handy voting guide on these – their recommendations match ours! – and also on the county proposition and the two in the City of Flagstaff. Find it here. From the Flagstaff Office of the Coordinated Campaign Hello Amazing volunteers! This is Collin, the Flagstaff Organizer for the Arizona Democratic Party’s Coordinated Campaign. We have only 51 days left until November 5th! That means we only have 7 weekends left to contact voters! We have only 24 days until ballots are mailed out. We are super close to our GOTV efforts and we will need a lot of volunteers. We need to complete 2,000 Canvass shifts in October. We have several opportunities coming up this week: On Wednesday at 6pm we will be hosting a virtual phone bank. On Thursday at 6pm we will be hosting a virtual phonebank. On Saturday at 9am join a Special Guest for a door-to-door canvass. We will also be hosting canvasses at 12pm on Saturday as well as 9am and 12pm on Sunday. Join us Saturday at 3pm for a virtual phonebank. On Sunday at 2pm we will be hosting our weekly Organizing Meeting. Join us Sunday at 3pm for a virtual phonebank. Please sign up for these events HERE Volunteer Shout-Outs: Thank you John Garibaldi for being an Incredible Canvasser! Thank you so much for being the amazing volunteers that you are! We are so excited to work with all of you! Together we can elect Democrats in November! “If we get people out to vote, we win, We get people out to vote, we win and you’re getting them out to vote.” – Joe Biden This is the link to sign up if you would like to get involved:  Free parking for all at the Democracy Fair in NAU’s commuter parking lots on south campus! Join Us in Our Key Outreach and Voter Education Work This Fall We have less than two months to go before the election, and the Coconino County Democrats are fully engaged. We have something for everyone – from the most outgoing neighborhood canvasser to the more introverted writer. This month we are particularly eager to have volunteers for our shift at the Flagstaff Family Food Center, and for the great conversations we are having at each Sunday’s Flagstaff Community/Farmers’ Market. Please use our “one-stop-shop” way of signing up for any of these opportunities with the link below. Volunteer Signup Sheet! As our outreach and community activities heat up with the late stages of the campaign season, we are using a new and convenient tool for signing up. This link below will take you to a spreadsheet where you can learn about all of our events and sign up for those you’d like to help with. The tabs at the bottom are by month; click on OCTOBER if you’d like to see what we have going that month. Each sheet then presents all of the events for that month, from serving dinner at the Flagstaff Family Food Center, to tabling at one of our summer festivals, to talking to voters at the Sunday markets. Put your name and contact information into the sheet where you’d like to help; no need to email or call or click Submit, because the sheet will be updated and your information will be visible to the organizer as soon as you sign up. Thanks for being part of the fun and the great work we are doing this year! Volunteer Events and Signup Calendar of Events To share an upcoming event in our bi-monthly newsletter or the monthly events calendar on our website, please email us the details at by Friday prior to each newsletter. Fight for Democracy. Protect our Freedoms. Support the 2024 Election. Become a monthly donor today. Donate Paid for by the Coconino County Democratic Party. Donations are political contributions and not tax-deductible.newsletter. Fight for Democracy. Protect our Freedoms.Support the 2024 Election. Become a monthly donor today. Donate |
| Paid for by the Coconino County Democratic Party. Donations are political contributions and not tax-deductible. |