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Gilbert, Buckland ahead. Voters in Fountain Hills reject Dickey

Harry November 6, 2024

East Valley voters went to the polls Nov. 5 to choose who will lead their community, and in a closely watched race, Kenny Buckland was leading Aaron Accurso in Gilbert after mail-in votes were counted.

Elsewhere, Chandler’s incumbent challenger for City Council was trailing his 20-year-old opponent by a moderate margin, while in Fountain Hills, voters rejected Mayor Ginny Dickey’s re-election bid and backed challenger Gerry Friedel by a comfortable margin.

While voters in Carefree supported a controversial ballot measure, Tempe voters were heavily supportive of the triple bond measure.

Election results in Arizona are not official until local and state officials count all ballots and certify the results.

Arizona allows voters to vote early at the polls on Election Day, and those ballots still must be processed and verified before being counted. Full, unofficial results are currently expected between November 15 and November 18. Races may be called earlier depending on margins and the number of early votes that need to be counted.

We will follow the results as vote counting continues in the evening. Check back for updates on the remaining races.

Election 2024: See Arizona election results | Live broadcast throughout Election Day

Chandler’s ticket: One open seat on City Council

As Chandler voters decided who would fill the unfilled City Council seat in July’s primary election, Deputy Mayor OD Harris and political newcomer Jennifer Hawkins received enough votes to avoid a runoff.

Two incumbent candidates running for remaining council seat City Councilwoman Christine Ellis and 20-year-old challenger Joseph Yang.

Ellis was leading Yang by a modest margin in early results.

Ellis was first elected to the City Council in 2020 and appears to be running for a second term. He is a Haitian national who immigrated to the United States when he was 17 years old. She is a registered nurse who owns an assisted living home business in the East Valley.

Yang is a political newcomer who has served on numerous public safety-focused boards and organizations, including Chandler’s Citizen Review Panel on Police Complaints and Use of Force. He is also the CEO of a model car company that produces model police cars called 153AZ.

The race was low-key, with both candidates being registered Republicans with broadly similar stances on city issues. For voters, the contest is largely a decision about who they think can implement these policies more effectively.

Gilbert voters elect new council member and decide on spending

Gilbert voters were also deciding on a new city council member. two candidates, Aaron Accurso and Kenny Buckland Both advanced to the November runoff after failing to win the seat outright in the August primary.

Accurso has lived in Gilbert for 17 years and is a devout Catholic. He works as a construction manager for a local pool company.

Buckland is a former commander of the Gilbert Police Department and retired from the town in 2016. He previously owned a small business and currently works as a sales manager for a consulting company.

Buckland was trailing Accurso in the early turns.

The Gilbert City Council and its policies have caused a rift between elected officials and residents over the past two years. It is caused by conflicts between members of the parliament and the disclosure of confidential information. Gilbert MenA gang of teenagers and young adults who engage in a series of random attacks.

The second-round contest between the two candidates remained civil and largely quiet.

The two have garnered several different endorsements. Support came from Accurso Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, State Senate President Warren Peterson and the Arizona Republican Freedom Caucus.

Support came from Buckland council members Yung Koprowski, Kathy Tilque and Maricopa County assessor and former city council member Eddie Cook. It also received approval from the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce.

The municipality also posed Two suggestions to voters about spending.

Voters were comfortable supporting proposals 497 and 489 on city spending.

Proposal 497 asked voters in 1980 to approve a permanent $1.5 million adjustment to the state-imposed spending floor cap. Gilbert last set the spending limit in 1998.

Proposal 498 asked voters to exclude capital improvement projects, including streets, water and sewer infrastructure parks and all other capital projects, from the spending limit.

Tempe voters expected to approve nearly $600 million bond program

Tempe residents voted a significant majority ‘yes’ on early counts for three ballot questions that would allow the city to take on $582 million in bond debt to fund everything from affordable housing to improvements to the police department to repairs to nearly every decrepit street in the city over the next four years.

Funds will be spent across three categories, including:

$301 million for public safety and highway improvements. This includes roadway improvements worth more than $100 million, as well as fire, police, pedestrian infrastructure and stormwater drainage projects.
$249 million to improve quality of life in Tempe neighborhoods. This will provide “funding for parks, historic preservation and municipal infrastructure projects,” the city statement says.
$32 million to increase the supply of affordable housing. At least some of that money will go to Hometowns for All, Mayor Corey Woods’ brilliant project that helps the city buy apartment complexes and ensure they stay affordable in perpetuity.

Each of the three ballot questions was on track to win approval by a landslide in the primary election results.

Carefree voters decide the fate of the general plan

Carefree has only one town-specific item on the ballot, Proposition 493. The measure gives voters the power to decide whether to approve an updated version of the town’s General Plan.

Proposition 493 received a large percentage of ‘yes’ votes in the initial vote counts.

The Town’s General Plan is a long-range planning strategy that broadly describes the community’s vision for future growth, transportation network, parks, civic buildings, public art, environmental sustainability, and economic development. State law requires towns to update the plan every ten years.

One of the biggest changes in the town’s proposed General Plan is a special planning area, or SPA, located at the northeast corner of Carefree Highway and Cave Creek Road and the northwest corner of Carefree Highway and Tom Darlington Drive.

The SPA will allow certain types of commercial development in those areas to help the town generate sales tax revenue ahead of an expected downturn in cash flow. But it faced opposition from some residents and City Council candidates Those who are concerned about preserving the natural landscape of the area.

Fountain Hills will elect a mayor and two council members

Fountain Hills voters elected a mayor And Election was held among four City Council candidates He is running for two open seats.

In the mayoral race, incumbent Mayor Ginny Dickey was trailing challenger and current Councilman Gerry Friedel by a wide margin in early results. The second is linked to a political action committee that is helping set up the 2022 elections One of the most disgusting and heated incidents in the town’s recent historythe first was the main goal of this PAC.

Councilwoman Peggy McMahon and challenger Rick Watts were leading Matthew Corrigan and Clayton Corey in races for two open seats. The race was closely contested; McMahon, the pack leader, had a narrow lead over Corey, who received the fewest votes.

Paradise Valley decides which council member will run for mayor

Paradise Valley voters choose from: two sitting City Council members to become the community’s new mayor. The person with the most votes will lead the town over the next four years on a variety of important issues, from regulating unruly short-term rentals to preserving quality of life.

The contestants are Deputy Mayor Mark Stanton and City Councilwoman Anna Thomasson.

Preliminary results show Stanton leading Thomasson.

Stanton is the founder of a communications firm and president and CEO of the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce. He is currently serving his third elected term on the council.

Thomasson was elected to the council in 2019 and 2023. He had a 35-year career in corporate finance and human resources consulting for Fortune 500 companies.

This article will be updated as election results become available.