Happy voters
I have worked many elections and want to tell Arizona about the people we saw this election. We hear so much about how divided our country is, however, not the almost 2,000 people who came to vote at our vote center. This very diverse group was polite, friendly, patient, smiling and thankful. Many told us how much they appreciated us being there and we were thanked by men and women alike. When it was over and we were exhausted, we all agreed that our voters were just plain nice. Thanks to all who came to Ellie Towne. You made all our hard work golden.
Karem Larkin
Midtown
Elections work in Pima County
As a first-time poll worker on Election Day last week, I found the work gratifying. I’m glad I volunteered. The Pima County Elections Department did a great job getting all the equipment in place and designing a system to ensure the secure and efficient delivery and receipt of ballots from all eligible voters.
People are also reading…
Thank you to my fellow poll workers for their efficient setup of all the equipment, their dedication to getting every eligible voter a ballot and their care of each ballot cast. Voters were greeted with friendly welcomes.
Big thanks to the voters who either brought in their vote-by-mail ballots or who voted at the vote center. Democracy works when people vote.
Karl Flessa
Midtown
Election misinformation
Re: the Nov. 11 article on C2 “AZ epicenter for election misinformation.”
It is ironic that an Associated Press article in Friday’s paper about misinformation contained some misinformation! The writer stated that “In...Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona, election officials cannot begin counting mail ballots until Election Day.” That’s not true. Ballots mailed in early in Arizona are signature verified and counted early. The results are ready to be released quickly. The delay happens when early ballots aren’t dropped off until election day. The verification process takes a while. Educating our voters about how elections work in Arizona is very important. I hope more attention will be paid to that for the next election.
Karen Berry,
polling place inspector
Midtown
Thanks for writing
Now that the midterm election is over, I would like to express my gratitude for all the people who took the time to write a letter or article during the last few weeks. Although I often do not agree with (their) opinions, I am sincerely grateful to the writers. I read the letters to the editor every day and am really impressed with my fellow citizens. I find it heartening to realize that there are so many thoughtful, intelligent people around me.
Thank you all!
Barbara Tanzillo
Downtown
Mayor Romero endorsement
Mayor Romero,
I voted for you twice. To better serve all of your constituents, don’t endorse any individual running for any public school board. Your endorsed candidate lost by many votes. Stick to governing.
TUSD school board candidate Val Romero, alumnus of Salpointe Catholic: Your big lie that our public schools teach CRT, are like lies told by two recent Republican state school superintendents. I am a Salpointe grad, 1972. My government teacher at Salpointe High School, Sister Clare Dunn, taught me something about running for elected office: Don’t lie. She used Dick Nixon as an example. She was elected to two terms as a state representative and fought for the poor; hence, no Arizona state grocery tax, her crowning achievement as a public servant. She also tried in vain to begin Black American and Brown American ethnic studies to the classrooms, in a parochial setting.
Daniel Gallardo
West side
Boos and boohoos
The election movie “2022” started as a scary movie with a lot of boos thrown at us and ended a tear-jerker with a lot of boohoos for the losers and tears of joy for the winners. Fasten your seat belts for the sequel “2024”. It’s being billed as an epic boos and boohoos extravaganza.
Joe Sanchez
Marana
Trump narcissism
It’s clear to everyone but the true believers in the MAGA crowd that Trump is the most narcissistic person ever. He has to name everything he owns after him. He has never admitted to a mistake, exaggerates about everything, treats others as objects that either help or hinder him. He doesn’t care about the Republican Party, has probably cost them the Senate twice due to pettiness. I think it’ll be interesting how history evaluates his mental state and that of people who drank the Kool-Aid.
Craig Miller
Northwest side
Campaign ads
Tucson missed a bet during the annual All Souls Procession last Sunday. They could have collected all of the campaign signs for all candidates all over the city and burned them in the bonfire at the end of the procession. What a blaze that would have made and it would have been a useful end of these eyesores. Oh well, maybe next general election.
Also, wouldn’t it be nice if someone invented a device to go on your phone that would intercept all of those robot campaign ads and send them into some twilight zone before they ring your phone? Wishful thinking.
Tom Henderson
West side
Please explain
How is it that Florida counted seven million votes in one day while here in Arizona we’re still awaiting results? What are they doing right and we’re doing wrong?
Mark Moral
East side
Just curious
I was just wondering, which will happen first: Will Arizona play in the Rose Bowl for a bowl game or will the 2022 ballots finally be counted?
Charles Schultz
Northeast side
All Souls Procession
The procession is a beautiful and solemn gathering largely attended by families. It draws thousands of Tucsonans who come to honor their loved ones who have passed.
Unfortunately, there was a small group of Christians carrying bullhorns throughout the event. They were going on and on about Jesus and promising damnation to those attending as if some kind of Devil worship were taking place.
I understand their First Amendment right to speech. But trying to disrupt a beautiful event like that and threatening small children with damnation seems to me to be beyond the pale.
Some of my neighbors at the event and I did get a bit of a chuckle when one of them blared, “There is something about Jesus that makes people angry.” I don’t think he can put that one on Jesus.
Bruce Thoms
West side
Republican Party
Abraham Lincoln must be spinning in his grave to see what “The Party of Lincoln” has become. And especially to see “Honest Abe” usurped by a particularly distasteful Arizona candidate.
Thad Appelman
Northwest side
Whining won’t help Kari Lake
Before the votes are all counted, Kari Lake has already floated the “Little Lie” that this last election was rigged. If Hobbs wins will she continue to spread this idea? Arizona isn’t the embarrassment, Kari Lake is.
Her timing is terrible. The mid-terms clearly showed that Americans are sick and tired of losers who refuse to concede. At a time when other Republicans realize it’s time to jump from Trump’s ship, she is emulating him. Whining will only hurt her future political efforts.
April Hoffman
Oro Valley
Appeasement
“History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.” Attributed to Mark Twain. Appeasement. Chamberlain thought the insatiably voracious liar named Adolph Hitler could be appeased by “letting him have” a part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland that bordered on Germany because he needed it, wanted it, etc. That was “peace in our time” which lasted a nanosecond before Hitler decided he wanted Austria, then Poland...and on and on. Ring a bell in our time? Putin just wanted, needed... Georgia, Crimea, then he needed all of Ukraine. What’s next if we don’t continue to stand firm and resist with the Ukrainians: Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania? Well maybe it won’t affect us. Does it rhyme?
The old quasi-pro-Nazi, anti-Semitic America-First lingo of Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford continues with Trump and his MAGA followers.
Katharine Donahue
Foothills
Look to the future
Americans resisting change is creating an increase in short-sightedness. There now exists an electric vehicle that has a range of 250 miles and costs less than $30,000. It has a 106 MPG, which is extraordinarily more efficient than any class of SUV.
Yes, it’s smaller. However, at $.17 per kWh, the cost of going 250 miles would be $11.90! A SUV that gets 21 mpg and utilizes $3.70 regular gas will consume $44. And then there will be that inevitable morning when one awakens and a war, a refinery shutdown, an OPEC shakedown, or a combination of those entities nearly doubles the price of gasoline, or makes it in short supply.
While not a wholly perfect solution, each new day makes an EV a better choice as more electricity is created by renewables, thereby reducing carbon-sourced generation and making our planet healthier. Be short-sighted and you will surely be short-changed.
Rick Cohn
West side
Russia chased satellite countries into NATO’s arms
NATO didn’t mess with Ukraine, Georgia and the like to entice them into NATO. Russia’s brutal, repressive, and overtly corrupt regime meddled with these countries and placed puppet leaders in charge. These tyrants mismanaged the countries and stole much of their wealth. It was this that led to the Maidan. Rather than face such a reality, they placed blame on NATO, in order to justify an invasion. Russia will not stop this behavior until they draw back a bloody nub. Supporting Ukraine is the right thing to do to keep from making the same mistake that Neville Chamberlain made with Czechoslovakia back prior to WWII. Sometimes you have to fight for peace or risk becoming livestock for tyrants. I support you, Sen. Kelly, as would my veteran father of three wars (WWII, Korea and Vietnam) if he were alive.
Dan Pendergrass
West side
Less expensive school construction
Some thoughts on caring for our school systems: Have a national contest to design a common 400-pupil school that would be easily adapted to any part of the country. By using a common design, the more that are built, the cheaper they would be by finding savings in construction methods.
Have the state build and maintain the schools on land bought by local school boards. This way all school districts would be treated equally.
The local school boards could concentrate on what needs to be taught.
We also should have 13 years of school with classes that cater to the interest of students for their futures.
Donald Plummer
Northwest side
Who would have won if there had not been inflation?
Without the country suffering from high inflation it is possible that the Democrats could have actually gained seats in both the House and the Senate. There were two big motivators for Democrats: abortion and preserving democracy. The Republicans only had one big motivator: inflation.
In 2024, Republicans might stop electing election deniers, but abortion will still be an issue. If Republicans want to do well in 2024 they better pray for a poor economy.
Jonpaul Barrabee
Oro Valley
