Teachers rally at the Arizona Capitol on June 5, 2024, to advocate for restrictions on the state's school voucher system, known as Empowerment Scholarship Accounts. The Protect Education Act, which would place restrictions on the ESA program, gathered more than enough signatures to make it onto the November ballot. (Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy/Arizona Mirror)
Voucher oversight initiative turns in 420k signatures, more than enough to make the ballot
A ballot initiative that would increase oversight of Arizona’s school voucher program turned in over 420,000 signatures to the secretary of state Thursday morning. That’s well over the 256,000 signature threshold needed to qualify for the November ballot and to provide a cushion for the thousands of signatures that will likely be disqualified.
“These hundreds of thousands of signatures represent the...
Steve Gallardo, a Democrat who sits on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, celebrates the increase in early voting sites for the state’s primary election and criticizes the county recorder’s efforts to sow mistrust in the county’s election processes in Phoenix on July 2, 2026. The board and the recorder, Republican Justin Heap, have been at odds over who controls the county’s early voting processes for months. (Photo by Gloria Rebecca Gomez/Arizona Mirror)
Advocates celebrate expanded Maricopa County early voting sites
Maricopa County will have more than a dozen early voting sites open ahead of the state’s primary election on July 21, an expansion that activists are hailing as a win amid ongoing spats between the county’s election officials.
Standing down the street from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors offices in downtown Phoenix, Gina Mendez, an organizer with Living United for Change in Arizona, called the increase in voting sites...
(Illustration by Alex Cochran for Stateline)
Democrats, Republicans alike focus on states’ rights as a way out of America’s political woes
Democrats are seizing the mantle of states’ rights to oppose the agenda of President Donald Trump, who has sought to reset Washington’s relationship with the states.
While the party out of federal power has always pushed its agenda in statehouses, Democrats across the country have recently demanded more autonomy for governors and state lawmakers. Liberals, longtime proponents of a stronger central government, are now championing an ideology that evokes odious...
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