Monday, November 2, 2020
Just days before Election Day, elections officials are on alert for voter intimidation – which can range from threatening emails to campaigning too close to a polling location – and working to educate voters about their rights and how to respond.
Intimidation is illegal under state and federal law, and can result in lawsuits, fines or imprisonment.
In Arizona specifically, it is a misdemeanor “to intimidate any person for voting for a candidate, for refraining from voting or to vote against another candidate,” said Amy Marshak, senior counsel at Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection.
Under Arizona law, private citizens are prohibited from bringing a weapon within the 75-foot radius established around the polling location. Even outside the 75-foot limit, the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office website considers an “aggressive or ostentatious display of weapons” to be voter intimidation.
The University of Arizona is reporting elevated COVID-19 cases reflective of a state-wide uptick after large gatherings occurred over the Halloween weekend, UA President Robert C. Robbins said in a news conference Monday, Nov. 2.
From Oct. 23 through Nov. 1, UA found 79 positive coronavirus cases after administering 7,122 tests for a positivity rate of 1.1%, an increase from the 0.6% rate the university reported the previous 10-day period.
The university found seven gatherings with over 100 attendees throughout the past week. UA’s CART team, a collaboration with the UA and Tucson police departments that looks for noncompliance to COVID-19 precautions, responded to 18 incidents since Oct. 26.
“This is not just a nuisance. These people who are acting indiscriminately are placing all of us at risk,” Reentry Task Force Director Richard Carmona said.
The university allowed classes of 50 or fewer students to return to campus last week as it continues phase 2 of its reopening plan. According to Carmona, there have been no issues with classroom transmissibility.
Robbins says the university will continue in this phase until fall break on Nov. 26 if public health metrics tracking the spread of coronavirus allow. However, some of these metrics are beginning to cause concern.
“We’re concerned about the deterioration of conditions nationally,” Robbins said. “While Pima County is faring better than some other areas, we do see some signs of concern here as well.”
Carmona said Pima County’s current R0, pronounced “R naught,” which indicates how contagious a virus is, has increased to 1.71 from 0.99 last week. The transmissibility rate for the zip code surrounding the university has increased from 0.68 to 1.25 this week.
Statewide, coronavirus is spreading as fast as it did in June. Carmona went over data showing over the past 14 days, coronavirus cases in the state increased by 67%, while deaths increased by 57%.
As COVID-19 cases rise, the university is continuing its preparation for fall break, requiring all main campus students to complete a survey with their traveling plans. After completing the survey, students will be directed to a website to register for the university’s appointment-only “testing blitz” from Nov. 9-15.
If students travel outside the Tucson area over fall break, the university is asking them to complete the semester outside the area or remotely online. Those who don’t travel can complete the semester from their student residences.
With 666 new cases reported today, the number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases topped 248,000 as of Monday, Nov. 2, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County had seen 28,914 of the state’s 248,139 confirmed cases.
With one new death reported yesterday, a total of 5,982 Arizonans had died after contracting COVID-19, including 642 deaths in Pima County, according to the Nov. 2 report.
The number of hospitalized COVID cases statewide has declined from July peaks but has ticked upward in recent weeks as the virus has begun to spread more rapidly. ADHS reported that as of Nov. 1, 918 COVID patients were hospitalized in the state. That number peaked with 3,517 hospitalized COVID patients on July 13; it hit a subsequent low of 468 on Sept. 27.
A total of 848 people visited emergency rooms on Oct. 29 with COVID symptoms. That number peaked at 2,008 on July 7; it hit a subsequent low of 653 on Sept. 28.
A total of 231 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care unit beds on Oct. 29. The number of COVID patients in ICUs peaked at 970 on July 13 and hit a subsequent low of 114 on Sept. 22.
On a week-by-week basis in Pima County, the number of positive COVID tests peaked the week ending July 4 with 2,452 cases, according to an Oct. 29 report from the Pima County Health Department.
Pima County saw a big bump in cases following the return of UA students, followed by a steady decline and then a big bump upward. For the week ending Sept. 19, 1,230 cases were reported; for the week ending Sept. 26, 615 cases were reported; for the week ending Oct. 3, 533 cases were reported; for the week ending Oct. 10, 465 cases were reported; for the week ending Oct. 17, 512 cases were reported; and for the week ending Oct. 24, 829 cases were reported.
WASHINGTON – Arizonans are already setting voting records this year, driven by a bitterly contested presidential race, a large number of new voters and COVID-19 fears that voting in-person may not be safe.
With four days left until Election Day, state election officials had already received 2.3 million ballots Friday, closing in on the total 2.6 million that were cast in 2016. This year’s turnout is “the most people who have ever voted early in Arizona history,” said Paul Bentz, senior vice president of research and strategy for HighGround Inc.
There are 4.28 million registered voters in Arizona this year, according to the secretary of state’s office, 692,686 more than in 2016.
Maricopa County officials reported processing 1.5 million ballots as of Friday, and increases were being seen in swamped recorders’ offices across the state. Pima County had received 389,876 ballots by Friday, while Greenlee County, which only has 4,866 registered voters, had received early ballots from 2,166 of them by Friday.
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Saturday, October 31, 2020
Friday, October 30, 2020
This year, Pima County voters will decide a new District 1 Supervisor after Republican Ally Miller held the seat for eight years.
Now, Republican Steve Spain and Democrat Rex Scott are vying for the Pima County Board of Supervisors’ seat in District 1, a position that determines a wide range of public policy in the county.
The district, representing Marana, Casa Adobes, Oro Valley, and the Catalina Foothills, has reliably voted for Republicans in recent decades. This year’s Republican candidate, has a history as a political pundit penning right-leaning opinion pieces for the online Arizona Daily Independent.
Spain has been unabashedly critical of the current Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry. In an analysis of Pima County elections results in the 2016 general election, he criticized the election of District 4 Supervisor Steve Christy, calling him “the county establishment’s token quasi-Republican rubber stamp.”
“This, naturally, secures the position and malfeasance of Chuck Huckelberry, the nearly-half-a-million-dollar-a-year puppet of Diamond, Lopez, Click, Mehl, and the other members of the cabal that has this town by its short hairs,” Spain wrote.
But the latest campaign filing reports reveal Spain’s campaign for district supervisor took $12,000 from Humberto Lopez, Jim Click and David Mehl — presumably the same “members of the cabal” Spain mentioned.
The contributions from these individuals comprised 19% of Spain’s total campaign contributions as of Oct. 17.
The Spain campaign’s 2020 pre-general report shows he received $5,000 from Jim Click, the owner of several car dealerships in Tucson and Green Valley, on Oct. 8.
The third-quarter campaign finance report shows a $5,000 contribution from David Mehl, the owner of real estate development company Cottonwood Properties, on Aug. 27. Humberto Lopez, the president of real estate development and investment company HSL Properties, Inc., contributed $2,000 on Sept. 24.
As of Friday, Spain has not responded to Tucson Weekly’s request for comment.
The only entity Spain mentioned in the quoted portion of his 2016 article whom he didn’t receive funds from is “Diamond,” which presumably refers to the late legendary land speculator Don Diamond, who died in 2019.
Rex Scott’s campaign received $1,950 from individuals associated with Diamond Ventures, the company founded by Don Diamond.
The private company’s Vice President Priscilla Storm contributed $500 on Oct. 6. On Sept. 14, Diamond Ventures’ President David Goldstein gave $1,000. The company’s principal who oversees philanthropy, Helaine Levy, gave $200 on Sept. 10, and Chief Financial Officer William Kelley gave $250 on Sept. 9.
Since the last reporting date Oct. 26, Scott’s campaign had received $128,568.82 in total contributions, and Spain’s campaign received $61,842.05.
“There is no Clean Elections option for county elections, so we have to play by the rules that are set in front of us, and that means taking money from folks who are interested in the races,” said Adam Kinsey, a consultant for the Rex Scott campaign. “That's not the problem, the hypocrisy is when you slam these people and say that those contributions will result in actions as an elected official. When you say that they are buying the county administrator, they are buying these politicians, when you make claims like that, and then you take the money yourself, that's where we're got a problem.”
The Democratic candidate in the race for district 1 posted Spain’s comments about “the cabal that has this town by its short hairs,” and the revelations from his latest campaign findings on a website listing the Republican candidate’s past statements as a political pundit.
“We know that Steve Spain is largely unknown to most voters. But we know that he also has an incredible body of work that's out there in the public sphere, because he's been blogging on this sort of alt-right blog, the Arizona Daily Independent, for years,” Kinsey said. “Rex is a career educator, and he does not want to go negative. He does not want to mud sling, he does not want to make any baseless political attacks. So he said, one thing we can do is just share what Steve Spain has put out into the world with the voters and let his words speak for themselves.”
This article has been edited to include an additional quote from political consultant Adam Kinsey as well as the Scott campaign's fundraising totals.
An Oct. 29 Cronkite News story mischaracterized the Arizona Department of Health Services policy on in-person versus virtual schooling during COVID-19. The policy sets recommended guidelines for local schools, which have the ultimate authority on how to proceed.
WASHINGTON – The Ducey administration defended its decision Thursday to make it harder for Arizona schools to revert to virtual education, from in-person or hybrid schooling, in the face of surging COVID-19 cases.
Gov. Doug Ducey said the decision to require that three different criteria are met – the old standard was just one of the three – before schools consider returning to online teaching was made with input from “the superintendent of public instruction and education leaders.”
But in a statement Thursday, a spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Education said that the department “was not part of the decision-making process” on the change.
The back and forth comes as new COVID-19 cases are surging in the state, with more than 5,700 new cases reported this week alone and 49 deaths attributed to the disease.
As of Thursday, the state had confirmed 242,480 cases of COVID-19 since the virus was first discovered in Arizona in January, and had recorded 5,918 deaths from the disease, according to Arizona Department of Health Services data.
PHOENIX – The Arizona Coyotes’ decision to part ways with a draft pick accused of bullying a classmate with developmental disabilities has put the organization at the center of a national debate about forgiveness and cancel culture.
The Coyotes on Thursday renounced the rights to their 2020 fourth-round draft pick Mitchell Miller, 18, after more details surfaced about his role in the bullying of Isaiah Meyer-Crothers at an Ohio junior high school that led to a charge of assault in 2016. The Arizona Republic reported that Miller directed racial taunts at Meyer-Crothers, who is Black, and also forced him to eat candy that was in a urinal, according to a police report.
“We have decided to renounce the rights to Mitchell Miller, effective immediately,” Coyotes President & CEO Xavier Gutierrez said in a statement. “Prior to selecting Mitchell in the NHL Draft, we were aware that a bullying incident took place in 2016. We do not condone this type of behavior but embraced this as a teachable moment to work with Mitchell to make him accountable for his actions and provide him with an opportunity to be a leader on anti-bullying and anti-racism efforts.
“We have learned more about the entire matter, and more importantly, the impact it has had on Isaiah and the Meyer-Crothers family. What we learned does not align with the core values and vision for our organization.”
With 1,565 new cases reported today, the number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases topped 244,000 as of Friday, Oct. 30, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County had seen 28,296 of the state’s 244,045 confirmed cases.
With 16 new deaths reported yesterday, a total of 5,934 Arizonans had died after contracting COVID-19, including 639 deaths in Pima County, according to the Oct. 30 report.
The number of hospitalized COVID cases has declined from July peaks but has ticked upward in recent weeks as the virus has begun to spread more rapidly. ADHS reported that as of Oct. 29, 900 COVID patients were hospitalized in the state. That number peaked with 3,517 hospitalized COVID patients on July 13; it hit a subsequent low of 468 on Sept. 27.
A total of 898 people visited emergency rooms on Oct. 29 with COVID symptoms. That number peaked at 2,008 on July 7; it hit a subsequent low of 653 on Sept. 28.
A total of 188 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care unit beds on Oct. 29. The number of COVID patients in ICUs peaked at 970 on July 13 and hit a subsequent low of 114 on Sept. 22.
On a week-by-week basis in Pima County, the number of positive COVID tests peaked the week ending July 4 with 2,452 cases, according to an Oct. 29 report from the Pima County Health Department.
Pima County saw a big bump in cases following the return of UA students, followed by a steady decline and then a big bump upward. For the week ending Sept. 19, 1,230 cases were reported; for the week ending Sept. 26, 615 cases were reported; for the week ending Oct. 3, 533 cases were reported; for the week ending Oct. 10, 465 cases were reported; for the week ending Oct. 17, 512 cases were reported; and for the week ending Oct. 24, 829 cases were reported.
