In Gilbert, Buckland leads the pack. Fountain Hills voters reject Dickey

East Valley voters went to the polls Nov. 5 to choose who will lead their communities, and in one closely watched race, Kenny Buckland led Aaron Accurso in Gilbert after early mail-in ballots were counted.

Elsewhere, incumbent challenger Chandler for City Council was leading his 20-year challenger by a moderate margin, while in Fountain Hills voters rejected Mayor Ginny Dickey’s re-election bid, favoring challenger Jerry Friedel by a comfortable margin.

Voters in Carefree supported the controversial ballot measure, while Tempe voters strongly supported three bond measures.

Arizona election results are unofficial until local and state officials have counted all the ballots and certified the results.

Arizona allows voters to drop off early voting ballots at polling places on Election Day, and those ballots still must be processed and verified before they can be counted. Full unofficial results are currently expected between November 15th and November 18th. Races could be called earlier, depending on the margin and the number of early ballots that remain to be counted.

We will monitor the results as ballots are counted throughout the evening. Stay tuned for updates on the remaining races.

Elections 2024: View Arizona election results | Live broadcast throughout election day

Chandler’s ticket: one open city council seat.

Chandler voters were deciding who would fill the one City Council seat that was left unfilled in July’s primary election, when Vice Mayor O.D. Harris and political newcomer Jennifer Hawkins received enough votes to avoid a runoff.

The two candidates vying for the remaining council seat are incumbents. City Councilwoman Christine Ellis and 20-year-old challenger Joseph Young.

Ellis led Young by a moderate margin in the preliminary results.

Ellis was first elected to the City Council in 2020 and is running for a second term. She is a native of Haiti who immigrated to the United States when she was 17 years old. She is a registered nurse who owns a nursing home in the East Valley.

Yang is a political newcomer who has served on numerous boards and organizations focused on public safety issues, including the Chandler Citizens’ Commission on Police Complaints and Use of Force. He is also the CEO of the 153AZ model car company, which produces model police cars.

The race has been low-key because both candidates are registered Republicans and have generally similar positions on city issues. For voters, the contest is largely about deciding who they think can implement the policy more effectively.

Gilbert voters elect new council member and make spending decisions

Gilbert voters were also choosing a new city council member. Two candidates Aaron Accurso and Kenny Buckland advanced to the runoff in November after neither won a seat 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 swimming pool company.

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

Buckland was ahead of Accurso in the early matches.

The Gilbert City Council and its policies have caused a rift between elected officials and its residents over the past two years. This is due to infighting between board members and the disclosure Gilbert Goonswho are a gang of teenagers and young adults who have committed a series of random attacks.

The second round of elections between the two candidates remained civil and largely calm.

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

Buckland received support from Council members Jung Koprowski, Kathy Thielke and Maricopa County Assessor and Former City Council Member Eddie Cook. It also received the endorsement of the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce.

The city also posed two proposals to voters related to spending.

Voters strongly favored Propositions 497 and 489, which deal with city spending.

Proposition 497 asked voters to approve a permanent $1.5 million adjustment to the state’s 1980 base spending limit. Gilbert last adjusted the spending limit in 1998.

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

Tempe voters plan to approve nearly $600 million bond program

Tempe residents voted overwhelmingly in favor in early vote counts on three issues that would allow the city to take on $582 million in bond debt to fund everything from affordable housing to police department upgrades to repairs on nearly every worn-out street. . in the city over the next four years.

The funds will be spent in three categories, including:

$301 million for public safety and road improvements. This includes more than $100 million in road improvements, as well as fire, police, pedestrian infrastructure and storm drainage projects.
$249 million to improve quality of life in Tempe neighborhoods. A city memorandum says it will provide “funding for parks, historic sites and municipal infrastructure projects.”
$32 million to increase the supply of affordable housing. At least some of that money will go toward the Hometown for All program, the brainchild of Mayor Corey Woods, which helps the city buy apartment complexes to ensure they remain affordable indefinitely.

Each of the three ballot questions was on track to win approval by wide margins in the initial election results.

Carefree voters decide the fate of the master plan

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

Proposition 493 received a large majority of “yes” votes in the initial vote count.

The City’s Master Plan is a long-term planning strategy that broadly outlines a vision for the city’s future growth, transportation network, parks, public buildings, public art, environmental sustainability and economic development. State law requires cities to update the plan every ten years.

One of the biggest changes to the city’s proposed master plan is a special planning area, or SPA, at both 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 these areas to help the city generate sales tax revenue ahead of an expected downturn in cash flows. But he has faced opposition from some residents and City Council candidates. who are concerned about the preservation of the region’s natural landscape.

Fountain Hills will elect a mayor and two council members.

Fountain Hills voters elected mayor And chose between four candidates for city council fight for two empty seats.

In the mayoral election, incumbent Mayor Ginny Dickey trailed challenger and current City Councilman Jerry Friedel by a significant margin in preliminary results. The latter is affiliated with a political action committee that helped push the 2022 elections. one of the most disgusting and hottest in the city’s recent historywhile the former was the main target of this PAC.

Incumbent City Councilwoman Peggy McMahon and challenger Rick Watts edged out Matthew Corrigan and Clayton Corey in the race for the two open seats. The race was tight, with pack leader McMahon only narrowly ahead of Corey, who received the fewest votes.

Paradise Valley decides which council member to nominate for mayor

Paradise Valley voters choose one of two current city council members become the new mayor of the community. The leader with the most votes will guide the city on key issues ranging from regulating unregulated short-term rentals to preserving quality of life over the next four years.

The contenders are Vice Mayor Mark Stanton and City Councilor Anna Thomasson.

Early results show Stanton ahead of Thomasson.

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

Thomasson was elected to the council in 2019 and 2023. She had 35 years of experience in corporate finance and human resources consulting for Fortune 500 companies.

This article will be updated as election results become available.