Arizona Governor votes at Mesa Community College with bipartisan support
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs dropped off her ballot on Wednesday at Mesa Community College, campaigned for local officials on the importance of civic duty and motivated young voters to head to the polls for the 2024 general election.
Hobbs and Mesa Mayor John Giles held a morning news conference on the Southern and Dobson campus, highlighting the importance of voting less than a week before Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5, where MCC serves as a convenient early voting location for the neighboring community.
Hobbs voted after the news conference by dropping off her ballot at the Southern and Dobson Library.
Hobbs and Giles are not running in the 2024 election, as the governor is in the middle of her term and Giles’ term ends in 2025.
The governor and mayor campaigned for two Democratic candidates attending the event, Maricopa County Recorder candidate Tim Stringham, and Maricopa County Board of Supervisors District 1 candidate Joel Navarro.
Both positions were vital to election integrity, according to Giles, a Republican who added Navarro and Stringham to a list of Democratic candidates that he supported, including Vice President Kamala Harris, 2024 candidate for president of the United States.
“Those two positions are under a lot of pressure by people who are election deniers,” Giles said.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors administer vote counting and other Election Day operations. The Maricopa County Recorder is in charge of voter registration and early voting, including mail-in votes, while also managing county elections, according to the Maricopa County election administration.
Navarro explained he wanted to represent his own district and encourage people to vote, no matter how they fill out their ballot or which side they vote for.
“It’s your opportunity to cast that ballot on what you believe in,” Navarro said.
Navarro stated that he wanted to preserve democracy and combat conspiracy theories about election information, making the 2024 election that much more important.
Stringham, who grew up in a Republican family and is now a Democrat, explained that he agreed with Navarro that voting is crucial in today’s world.
“To be able to say that you have some measure of control over your government is important,” Stringham said.
Mayor Giles and candidates Stringham and Navarro, are all alumni of MCC. When Stringham was asked about the relevance of MCC for the election campaign, he mentioned his connection to the college.
“To be able to come out here back to a place that I studied and have Republicans and Democrats both support me, that’s rewarding,” Stringham said.
MCC offered early in-person voting through Friday, Nov. 1, and would open again on Tuesday, Nov. 5 for in-person voting on Election Day. MCC would also act as a ballot drop-off site until election night.
The polling sites are located at MCC’s Southern and Dobson Library, and at the Red Mountain campus in the Mesquite Building. The sites are open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. Both are closed Sunday.
