Signatures are in and write-ins will be added soon. LD3 Dems has 101 Precinct Committeemen “on the ballot” in July's primary. Though we won’t actually be on the ballot that is mailed to voters. Each jurisdiction has the right to leave an election off the ballot and declare an applicant the winner, without a vote, IF there aren’t enough applicants to fill all of the positions.
It happens frequently with down-ballot contests like Fire Districts, Justice of the Peace and even school boards. There haven't been any Democratic PCs on the actual ballot for a long time.
For Republican PCs this is pretty routine. In 2024, our Rio Verde precinct has 45 Republican PC candidates for 30 PC slots. All 45 will be on the Republican primary ballot in July. And you thought voting for judges is tough!
Since the 2020 redistricting, the total number of Democratic PCs has trended downward here in LD3; we also have fewer registered Democrats in our newly-formed district. In addition, we lost about 50 PCs from redistricting. Still, LD3 is one of two legislative districts that has the largest number of PCs per Democratic voter; our ratio is 1:336. The average is 1:809. There is actually a legislative district in Maricopa County with just one PC for 33,000 registered Democrats.
What are the consequences of having too few PCs?
State Law A.R.S. §. 41-1202 specifies that a Legislative District political party must have 30 elected PCs to recommend replacements for their party's vacated House or Senate seat. This includes write-ins, but not appointed PCs. The number of elected and write-in PCs is fixed as of July 30.
Since our current Legislature was elected in November 2022, 12 legislators have either resigned or been removed. Ten of those were Democrats.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (BOS) is responsible for filling legislative vacancies. If a legislative district has 30 or more elected and write-in PCs, the district puts together a list of recommendations to fill the vacancy for the BOS to consider. If a district does NOT have 30 PCs, the BOS fills the vacancy without the LD's input. The current BOS has 4 Republicans and 1 Democrat. As with our very recent example of our newly-appointed Sheriff, the BOS can choose a Republican who switched parties at the last minute to get an appointment. No Democratic values here; just a D by your name.
LD3 has 18 voting precincts with no Precinct Committeemen. You can help. Become a PC. Email Linda West at westlinkdaann@gmail.com. Forms are due April 15th. Don't delay.
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