August 22, 2018 • Vol. 16, No. 39
POSTAL PATRON CAVE CREEK
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Anthem | Black Canyon City | Carefree | Cave Creek | Desert Hills | New River| North Phoenix | Tramonto | Vistancia
New study declares Arizona elections in crisis due to low participation BY TARA ALATORRE
Pictured: The pie chart is compiled from data published in the report titled “Arizona Primary Elections: Primarily Forgotten” that was released this August and was funded by the Citizen Clean Elections Commission. Due to low voter participation, especially in the primary elections, Arizona is now facing a voter crisis, according to the study.
Image courtesy of ASU Morrison Institute for Public Policy
New River group set to finalize boundaries for water district, last chance for owners to join BY TARA ALATORRE
NEW RIVER – Residents from New River and Desert Hills took a sigh of relief on August 13 when the EPCOR water station opened providing an essential designated, short-term potable water resource for water haulers whose deliveries the community relies on. But for some the water station provided a reprieve that was only as temporary as the solution, because lingering still is a vulnerable, rural community lacking a long-term fix to its dwindling groundwater resources. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Arizona has been in an extreme and
persistent drought that has worsened over the years, and this rural community is feeling the impacts. Wells have gone dry, big development has encroached and then the catalyst came in August 2017, when Phoenix informed the community that water haulers would be cut off from the taps because it infringed on the city’s 100-year water supply. That is when a group of dedicated community members stepped in ready to organize and act, ultimately forming the New River Desert Hills Water, LLC, a non-profit organization. WATER DISTRICT continued on page 10
TEMPE – A new report published this month by the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University declared that Arizona is experiencing a voter crisis due to participation steadily declining across the state; especially in the primary elections where only one in three potential voters cast a ballot in the 2016. The report titled “Arizona Primary Elections: Primarily Forgotten” was funded by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, the authors David Daugherty and Joseph Garcia wrote it as a supplement to their earlier report titled “Arizona’s Voter Crisis.”
The report says that well over 70 percent of the state’s eligible voters did not cast a ballot in the 2016 primary election, which means less than 1 million of Arizona’s 4.7 million potential voters (registered and non-registered) helped select candidates for the general elections. “Although Arizona primary elections are primarily forgotten or ignored by casual and potential voters, their impact cannot be overstated since they frequently serve as the de facto general election,” the study stated. “In other words, in many races the primary election is the election.” With those extremely low participation numbers in a state with a population of 7 million,
representative democracy is degraded by citizen’s lack of participation in elections. Merely 10 percent of Arizona voters selected candidates for the general election in each party in 2016, according to the study. Arizona’s general elections also have very low participation with 45 percent of eligible voters sitting out the 2016 general elections, ranking 43rd nationally for voter turnout, according to the July 2018 report Arizona’s Voter Crisis. “The low level of interest among most voters, however, is clearly out of proportion to the importance of primary AZ ELECTIONS continued on page 9
Anthem students create ‘last dance’ for 99-year-old dance instructor BY MACKENNA ALATORRE SPECIAL FOR THE FOCUS
ANTHEM – Boulder Creek High School students granted 99-year-old Dolph Clark’s last wish by partaking in a Dream Catcher event for the first time in the school’s history, putting dreams into action on August 11 at LifeStream Senior Living in North Phoenix. Dream Catchers was founded by California student Caitlin Crommett in 2007. The organization grants hospice patients their last wish before they die through the coordination of its local chapters. In this case, Clark a former LAST DANCE
continued on page 12
Pictured: On the right is Dolph Clark dancing with family and friends at his last dance.
Photo courtesy of Boulder Creek Dream Catchers
NEW RIVER:
ELECTIONS:
PEORIA:
Daisy Mountain Fire offering
Primary election polling
Police chief
free CERT training
locations, early drop boxes
candidate selected
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OTHER : • Bluhm Column
6
• Service Directory
15
• Classified Ads
18