Democratic precinct commissioners for the 20th legislative district on Saturday named Betty Villegas and Lourdes Escalante as candidates for the remainder of Cano’s term, who resigned on July 4 to attend Harvard University. , Elma Alvarez voted for three people.

But two other state legislators in the district, Democrats Sen. Sally Ann Gonzalez and Rep. Alma Hernandez, said in a letter they were calling for a re-election.

Gonzalez and Hernandez pointed to inadequate meeting notices, the use of Zoom as a means of attendance and voting, and restrictions on questions asked by precinct commissioners.

“While we have no candidate in this race, as a sitting member and senator for this district, we believe it is part of our job to represent our district and ensure the election is done properly. I am,” they said.

Arizona Democratic Party Chair Yolanda Bejarano forwarded the list of three candidates to county clerks on Monday in a letter. The letter stated that meeting notice was “emailed to all PC and LD20 e-mail lists” and that “he was added to LD20’s website more than 48 hours before the meeting took place.” It was suggested that it was an appropriate notice.

but Reported by the Tucson Sentinel LD20 Chair Leslie Starck initially refused to give reporters Zoom information to attend the conference, while Pima County Democratic Chair Eric Robbins said, “The conference was held in violation of public assembly laws.” I acknowledge that it is possible,” he said.

Asked if the LD20 meeting would be held again because of the open meeting law violation, Robbins said in a text message, “We are waiting for instructions from (the Supervisory Board). There are several possible avenues. .”

State law states: Any action taken at a public meeting in violation of the Open Meeting Act is void.

County Governor Jean Lescher said the commission received an email from the county attorney’s office saying it could neither “affirm nor deny the allegations” of violating the Open Conference Act, adding, “It is not our position to investigate those questions. No,’ he said.

Lescher said a board vote on his successor will be on the July 25 agenda.

In the event of a vacancy in the State Legislature, Arizona law The law states that constituency commissioners of the same party and constituency as resigning members must nominate three eligible replacements to the oversight board within five days of resigning while parliament is in session.

Supervisors then vote for replacements. Villegas won about 26% of the 195 votes cast at Saturday’s meeting. She is the director of South Tucson’s housing and community development division and previously served as interim county superintendent following the death of Richard Elias.

Escalante, who won about 18% of the LD20 votes, is the executive director of Alianza Indigena sin Fronteras, an organization that defends the rights and sovereignty of indigenous peoples.

Alvarez, who received 17% of the vote, teaches as an instructional specialist at TUSD’s Miller Elementary School.

The latest effort to change Tucson’s hybrid electoral system has failed.

supporters ofTucson Election Equality Actsubmitted 313 signatures, which is below the threshold (14,826 valid signatures) required to put the measure on the ballot.

The purpose of this law was to have city council members strictly elected by the voters of each ward.

In Tucson’s long-running system, voters in each district choose their general election candidates through partisan primaries. But in the general election, all city voters can vote for candidates in each of the city’s boroughs.

The system has been repeatedly challenged in balloting, in courts, and in Congress, but voters have never approved a change to so-called “district-only” elections, and federal courts have ruled the system constitutional.

Now that the ballots are in the hands of the city’s voters, mail carriers are arriving at the mailboxes in District 1, sparking traditional controversies over their content and compliance with the law.

The battle between incumbent Democrat Lane Santa Cruz and challenger Miguel Ortega has been flooded with mail this week, one of which flew out in search of its mysterious origins.

Senders of emails criticizing Santa Cruz for things like police funding and the failure of this year’s Tucson power plan were labeled as being from the Arizona Prosperity Initiative PAC.

However, the City of Tucson has no record of the Political Action Committee registering with the city as required or being notified of this expenditure as required. Additionally, Santa Cruz said she did not receive a mailer copy of the additional requirement in advance.

Ortega, on the other hand, was the target of an email that said, “Leave the trash talk there.” It was sponsored by the Working Families Party National PAC, and previously the cost of pro-Santa Cruz mail was covered by the Migente AZ PAC, the political action committee of organizations affiliated with the City of Santa Cruz.

Campaign fundraising got off to a fast start in the quarter ending June 30 for both candidates in a rematch in the House’s sixth congressional district.

Incumbent Republican Congressman Juan Ciscomani reported that he raised $815,000 in the quarter.

UA law professor and Democrat Carsten Engel, who narrowly lost to Ciscomani last year, reported raising $431,000.

As the Engel camp pointed out, the new plan wasn’t announced until April 12, when the quarter had already begun.