‘The Koz’ is wrong: Independent voter turnout is up in the Tucson City Council Primary Election

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

One of the persistent World Net Daily Tea Party conspiracy theories is that vote-by-mail balloting in the Tucson City Council primary election will reduce independent voter turnout because many of them will have missed the deadline to request a ballot of the party in whose primary they wish to vote.

Tea-Publicans enlisted their City Council Member Steve Kozachik, "the Koz," to advance this conspiracy theory to the easily fooled media villagers who are all too eager to publish every utterance of "the Koz" (we're looking at you, Arizona Daily Star).

This conspiracy theory ignores years worth of election history which clearly establishes that independents do not vote in party primaries — they are disengaged voters until the general election in November, at which time they will complain loudly that "we dont have any choices" – because they didn't bother to vote in the party primary election. Doh!

It turns out that the World Net Daily Tea Party conspiracy theory of "the Koz" is wrong — for the first time in years independent voter turnout has actually ticked up in the Tucson City Council primary election with vote-by-mail balloting. Maybe the Arizona Daily Star will get around to reporting the facts instead of wild-eyed conspiracy theories from "the Koz."

The Pima County Democratic Party has the early voting numbers in this press release:

Vote-By-Mail Improving Turnout, Despite Kozachik's Tea-Party-style Fabrications.

Republican Tucson City Council member Steve Kozachik's political gamesmanship notwithstanding, independents are having no trouble voting by mail — in fact, they’re on track to post their best turn out in years.

Already, 14 percent of independent voters have requested a ballot during the primary election — twice the rate of turnout in the conventional 2009 election and they are already outpacing their turnout for that year. Independents are on pace to beat the 2007 numbers.

Despite these facts, Kozachick made bizarre accusations this week seeing in the shadows conspiracy theories about efforts to disenfranchise independent voters. Instead the convenience of vote-by-mail is empowering independent voters across the city.

“Taking a cue from the Tea Party that helped elect him, Kozachik is calling ‘down’ ‘up,’ and fabricating controversy out of whole cloth,” said Jeff Rogers, Pima County Democratic Party Chair. “This is straight out of Sarah Palin's play book.”

Kozachik opposed the all-mail election which has improved turnout at a lower price.

“The Tucson City Council has provided a model for the rest of Arizona to get more people to the polls while saving taxpayers money,” Rogers said. “Kozachik looks pretty silly opposing it, so he’s just making stuff up hoping nobody will notice the facts.”

Independent voters are encouraged to turnout.

“If you haven’t mailed your ballot, you should do it today,” Rogers said. “Otherwise you can drop it off on Tuesday at six locations across Tucson. Voters can also show up on Tuesday to vote.”

The locations are:

Randolph Golf Complex, 600 S. Alvernon Way

Quincie Douglas Library, 1585 E. 36th Street

Clements Center, 8155 E. Poinciana Drive

St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, 1145 E Ft. Lowell Road

Udall Park Recreation Center, 7200 E. Tanque Verde Road

Valencia Branch Library, 202 W Valencia Road

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UPDATE: Apparently you can embarass the Arizona Daily Star into reporting factual news. Who knew? City primary is on pace to double usual turnout.