Decisions, decisions \u2026<\/p>\n
Scottsdale voters will select from a robust field of candidates for three City Council seats.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have eight candidates who qualified for the ballot,\u201d City Clerk Ben Lane said March 24.<\/p>\n
The eight who collected enough signatures of support to make the July 21 primary ballot range from savvy political veterans to eager newcomers.<\/p>\n
The candidates for Council: Incumbents Barry Graham and Solange Whitehead, former Councilman Bob Littlefield, former state representative Michelle Ugenti-Rita, former candidate Raoul Zubia and newcomers Crystal Carroll, Ethan Knowlden and Eric Sloan.<\/p>\n
Any of the candidates can win outright by securing enough votes during the primary. If any of the three seats are not filled during the primary, finalists will battle it out at the Nov. 3 general election.<\/p>\n
Just making the ballot for the primary is something of a victory.<\/p>\n
For Council, candidates were required to submit at least 1,000 signatures of support to Lane by 5 p.m. March 23.<\/p>\n
One returning to the ballot for the third time said she enjoyed the first part of the cycle.<\/p>\n
\u201cCollecting petition signatures is one of my favorite parts of campaigning,\u201d said Whitehead, who was elected in 2018 and 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cKnocking on doors, visiting neighborhoods and working alongside residents that volunteers collect signatures with me\u2026People are often surprised that sitting council members have to gather signatures. But listening to residents is our job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whitehead said she enjoyed meeting a 99-year-old World War II veteran and \u201ca young high school geometry teacher who went to Desert Mountain High School with my kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
State law in recent years allows candidates to solicit online signatures of support.<\/p>\n
As Ugenti-Rita noted, \u201cThe process of gathering signatures is never easy, which makes me especially humbled that nearly half were submitted by supporters through the online system.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former state senator added, \u201cI\u2019m equally grateful for the dedicated volunteers who stepped up, giving their time and energy to collect signatures on my behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graham also responded to a query about this early phase of the campaign:<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m deeply appreciative to everyone who signed my nominating petition to return me to City Council, and I’m especially grateful to the many who share how important it is to them that I’ve kept my word to never go along to get along and that I would always put residents first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zubia said he was \u201chumbled by the outpouring of support from the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s clear to me that residents want a return to competent, pragmatic, leadership,\u201d Zubia added, \u201cand that’s what I intend to deliver if elected.”<\/p>\n
Technology changes since Bob Littlefield was last on Council make for efficiency, he noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe introduction of the eQual software for collecting petition signatures has made the process easier, fairer and more democratic,\u201d Littlefield said. \u201cGood stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sloan\u2019s walk-away from harvesting signatures:<\/p>\n
\u201cAlways great seeing a grassroots campaign come together in a short amount of time and turning in over double the minimum required.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added he is \u201cgrateful and thankful of the support of Scottsdale Voters, our county sheriff and attorney and Scottsdale Police Officers.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Carroll, \u201cSignature gathering proved to be both an energizing and deeply rewarding experience. We spent significant time engaging with community members at the dog park and the Scottsdale Farmers Market.\u201d<\/p>\n
How to win outright<\/p>\n
Lane was asked the number of votes a candidate needs to win outright in the primary.<\/p>\n
Short answer: too soon to tell.<\/p>\n
Long answer:<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of determining an outright election in July \u2013 it depends on the actual number of votes cast. I won\u2019t be able to make this determination until all the votes are counted at the Primary Election,\u201d Lane said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny candidate who receives at the Primary Election a majority of the legal votes cast for that candidate\u2019s race is declared to be elected at the primary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lane explained the \u201cmajority\u201d is calculated by dividing the total number of legal votes cast in the race by the number of seats to be filled, dividing that number in half and rounding to the next highest whole number.<\/p>\n
The last time around, there were also eight candidates \u2013 again competing for three council seats.<\/p>\n
In the 2024 primary, according to Lane, \u201cThere were 154,049 legal votes cast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since there were three council seats, dividing the votes by three came to 51,349.67; dividing that by two and then rounded up came to a minimum 25,675 votes (16.7% of the total) to be elected at the primary.<\/p>\n
Jan Dubauskas, then a relative unknown later praised for her \u201cground game,\u201d tallied 27,717 votes \u2013 and was the only outright winner.<\/p>\n
Failing by less than 1% to reach the \u201cmagic number\u201d to win outright proved devastating to then Councilwoman Tammy Caputi.<\/p>\n
Caputi was second in the primary, with around 1,500 more votes than Adam Kwasman, followed by Maryann McAllen and then-incumbent Councilman Tom Durham.<\/p>\n
In the 2024 General Election, voter turnout was 89%, with 153,533 of 172,583 registered voters participating.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kwasman and McAllen powered past the two incumbents to put new members on the council.<\/p>\n
SUSD seats<\/p>\n
Two Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board positions will be on the November ballot.<\/p>\n
SUSD candidates have until mid-July to submit 400 signatures of support to make the ballot.<\/p>\n
While incumbent Amy Carney filed a statement of interest to run for reelection, fellow SUSD board member Carine Werner \u2013 who is running for reelection as a state senator \u2013 has not filed for the board.<\/p>\n
Jeanne Beasley, who failed in a 2024 run, and Jennifer Johnson filed statements of interest for the SUSD board.<\/p>\n
BOX PLEASE<\/p>\n
Key dates<\/p>\n
June 22: Last day to register to vote in the July 21 Primary Election.<\/p>\n
June 24: Early voting begins and early ballots mailed.<\/p>\n
July 21: Primary Election Day<\/p>\n
Oct. 5: Last day to register to vote in the Nov. 3 General Election.<\/p>\n
Oct. 7: Early voting begins and early ballots mailed<\/p>\n
Nov. 3: General Election Day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Decisions, decisions \u2026 Scottsdale voters will select from a robust field of candidates for three City Council seats.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":692035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[179695,5229,5643,1587,166900,289863,92783,5310,270104,270106,9950,202414,270103,1589,15855,241098,201586,200773,289862,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-692034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-adam-kwasman","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-barry-graham","tag-ben-lane","tag-carine-werner","tag-city-council","tag-eric-sloan","tag-ethan-knowlden","tag-general-election","tag-maryann-mcallen","tag-michelle-ugenti-rita","tag-phoenix","tag-primary-election","tag-raoul-zubia","tag-scottsdale-unified-school-district-governing-board","tag-tammy-caputi","tag-ugenti-rita","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116317205818937450","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}