Tucson Speaks Out: July 20

Midterm elections?

Are we adequately considering the possibility that November's midterm elections might not happen? Currently, President Trump is obsessed with elections. He wants to make voting harder and it less likely that registered voters will vote. He's called for voting by mail to end.

Trump orchestrated an insurrection that was intended to stop Congress from certifying the election of President Biden. Members of the current Trump administration have declared that the President's authority shall not be questioned and have suggested that Court decisions need not be followed. President Trump himself has insinuated that he is the law and that the Constitution allows him to do whatever he wants.

Fascists often come to power by way of an election. They remain in power by canceling future elections. We, including the press, must take seriously the possibility that Trump intends to declare a national emergency and cancel the midterm elections.

Dave Gallagher

Foothills

Reliable, affordable energy

ACC Commissioner Marquez Peterson discussed reliable and affordable energy but provided no information regarding either. Texas demonstrates that renewable energy (33% of the total) is very reliable. Burning fossil fuels costs more than solar or wind. The current costs in cents per kWh are: solar, 3-6; onshore wind, 3-5; natural gas, 4-7; and coal, 8-14.

The ACC eliminated the Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff (5-0 vote), allowing electrical utilities to avoid generating more lower-cost renewable energy. In June, a $700 million federal coal subsidy was added, supporting a primary source of fossil fuel pollution. The costs of burning fossil fuels to generate electricity has caused climate warming, drought, wildfires, and extreme storms. Last January, an article in the Star reported that up to 12% of all income is lost due to climate change.

The ACC needs to work for ratepayers and require utilities to modernize our grid and expand renewable energy for reliable and lower-cost electricity.

Bill Jones

East side

Why I vote

Voting sanctity and responsibility were instilled in me before LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Both of my grandmothers, as their mothers before them, fought for the right to vote. At ages 37 and 44, they voted for the first time in November 1920. My grandfather also cast his first ballot that day after gaining his US citizenship in July.

LBJ signed The Voting Rights Act into law on Aug. 6, 1965, after decades of people protesting, marching and demonstrating for the right to vote. They were beaten, arrested and harassed. John Lewis sustained life-threatening injuries, yet he continued to fight for freedom and equality. He inspired others to join the fight. The Freedom Riders began with 13 people, which grew into a movement of 400+. Courage is contagious. Let us honor these people by voting.

Your vote is important; your vote matters. Elections are frequently won by small margins. Encourage your family, friends and neighbors to exercise this precious right.

Voting is your voice, your power.

Judy J Gillies

West side

America's great experiment

On July 13, the Hungarian Parliament voted to oust its aged right-wing president as an act of solidarity with the Hungarian people who had recently elected the youthful Petér Magyar as Prime Minister.

Voting out of office both the president and Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose sixteen-year rule systematically dismantled Hungary's hard-earned democracy, proved that even entrenched autocratic governments can be undone.

Surprisingly, Orban took defeat like a man without descending into pathetic actions like "fake electors," or January 6th-style attacks on the Capitol, or gutting of the election process.

This year, as the United States acknowledges its two hundred-fiftieth anniversary, a worldwide milestone of democratic rule, it is our responsibility to continue nurturing America's Great Experiment. Are we really ready to throw that out?

John Attardi

Green Valley

Address to the nation

Last week, I watched Trump's address to the nation online. It started with his usual story of how great this country is doing, how great he is, etc. Then he got into the 2020 "stolen" election, with his opinions on rampant voter fraud, hacking by foreign governments, thousands of illegal immigrants, dead people on voter rolls and compromised voting machines. Fraudulent mail-in ballots, bags of ballots to be burned as ordered by Barack Hussein Obama. (Note the mean-spirited petty barb at Obama, no doubt put in to please his xenophobic sycophants. He then pleaded for the passage of his Save America Act. I could hardly believe I was hearing this incredible trash talk. I'm delighted that ABC and NBC refused to broadcast this garbage.

Tom Henderson

West side

Ciscomani and election integrity

Rep. Juan Ciscomani has been elected to Congress twice under Arizona's election system. That gives him a unique opportunity, and responsibility, to help restore confidence in our elections.

For years, and now again this week, unfounded claims about widespread election fraud have undermined public trust and divided our state. While every election system can be improved, Arizona's elections have withstood audits, recounts, and court challenges. The same system that elected President Trump in Arizona in 2024 also elected Rep. Ciscomani.

I encourage Rep. Ciscomani to publicly affirm that Arizona's elections are secure, that the voters who elected him can trust the process, and that disagreements over policy should not become attacks on our democratic institutions.

Leadership is measured not only by winning elections but by defending the integrity of the system that made those victories possible.

Frank Hagel

SaddleBrooke

Elections

For almost 10 years, I volunteered working the Pima County polls. I am very familiar with the process and can attest to the legitimacy, honesty and high-quality of how our county has run its elections. The only time I ever remember anyone questioning our election integrity was when Trump started questioning it during his 2016 run. I wondered why. Now I know it was to cover his butt if and when he lost. Win or lose, he continues to cry foul and try to convince us that our elections are rigged.

Last week, during his rant — I mean speech — Trump told us directly that he will continue to interfere with our free elections. Perhaps it is time for the people to make a massive march on Washington, D.C., and tell him directly that we will not let that happen!

Norma Guest

East side

New UA dorm

It has been my great pleasure and honor to have taught at three great public universities — Texas, Illinois, and Arizona — and to have held a Fulbright appointment in Taiwan, but none of this would have been possible if the University of Texas had not acquired some surplus U.S. army barracks and made them available as student dorms for $45 a semester (about $550 in today's dollars) when I went there in 1952. Since my widowed mother's salary as a certified accountant was $40 a week, the brick-and-mortar dorms at $225 a semester ($2,800 today) would have precluded my attendance at UT.

With the welcome news of the dorm at Speedway and Campbell, I hope that provision can somehow be made which will not prevent students such as I was from achieving their potential contribution to society — particularly if freshmen are required to live on campus. The least expensive dorms on campus are already $3,500 a semester, a level that would have made my career impossible.

Rudy Troike

Foothills