Navajo County voters cast 20,696 ballots in Tuesday’s primary election, deciding a handful of contested races and setting the stage for the November general election, according to unofficial results released Thursday evening by the Navajo County Elections Department. Countywide turnout stood at 28.38% of the county’s 72,918 registered voters, with Republicans turning out at 40.55% and Democrats at 38.42%. Early ballots made up the largest share of the vote.
As the count got underway this week, the Painted Desert Tribune was the only media outlet on site at the elections office, interviewing officials and streaming live coverage on its Facebook page. It was a first for the Tribune and the newspaper plans to do it again when voters return to the polls in November.
The election was not without complications. State and federal officials are examining why more than 900 early ballots mailed to Navajo County voters were returned to the county as undeliverable ahead of the primary. County Recorder David Marshall briefed the Board of Supervisors on the problem at the board’s July 14 meeting, placing responsibility with the U.S. Postal Service and noting that his office had run the addresses through verification systems, including the statewide AVID voter database, before the ballots went out and found 99% of them accurate. Marshall said officials in Show Low, Snowflake and Winslow confirmed that voters in their communities were not receiving ballots, and he pushed back on suggestions that the county had failed to pay postage, telling supervisors, “We pay our postage bills.”
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office said it is seeking information to determine whether a full investigation is warranted, and the Secretary of State’s Office is also gathering information. The returned ballots amount to roughly 4% of all ballots cast in the primary, and it remains unclear how many of the affected voters were able to vote another way, such as casting a ballot in person on election day. Ahead of the election, the Recorder’s Office sent letters to the affected voters, and Marshall posted a video to the county’s Facebook page urging anyone who did not receive a ballot to contact his office.
In Holbrook voters rejected all four charter propositions on the ballot, three of them repeat versions of amendments the city put before voters just last November. Proposition 451, eliminating the city treasurer position, failed 272 to 218; voters rejected the same change as Proposition 441 in the fall. Proposition 452, which would have raised the $500,000 voter-approval threshold for major city spending and land transfers to $1 million, failed 297 to 196, nearly matching last year’s defeat of Proposition 442. Proposition 454, converting the charter to nongendered language, failed 315 to 176, a wider margin than November’s rejection of Proposition 447. The one new question, Proposition 453, which would have changed the timing of the election canvass, came closest, failing 264 to 226. In the November special election, voters approved seven of the 10 proposed charter amendments while turning down these three.
Holbrook’s council races were uncontested, with Adrian Tubbs, Karina Pack and Arcenia Pacheco filling the three four-year terms and Alexandria Carroll taking the two-year seat without opposition.
In Snowflake, Greg Brimhall with 738 votes and Matt Bloomfield with 724 narrowly claimed the town’s two council seats over Cory Johnson, who drew 688, while Byron Lewis ran unopposed for mayor. Taylor voters selected four council members from a field of seven, with Jason Brubaker at 533 votes, Jared A. Hatch at 532, Bill Baldwin at 442 and Lynn Hatch at 405 claiming the seats over Lynn DeWitt, Eric Scott and Jack Babb.
In the crowded Republican primary for State Representative in District 7, where voters could select two candidates, Walter “Walt” Blackman led the field in Navajo County with 6,235 votes, followed by David Cook Sr. with 4,572. Andrew Costanzo drew 3,354 votes and Barby Ingle 2,109. On the Democratic side, the District 6 State Senate primary produced one of the night’s closer contests, with Jamescita Peshlakai winning 3,524 votes in Navajo County to Myron Tsosie’s 2,764. In the District 6 House race, where two seats were at stake, Mae Peshlakai led with 3,911 votes, followed by Ian Teller with 2,532 and Angela “Walker” Maloney with 2,357.
In the Republican primary for governor, Andy Biggs was the clear favorite among Navajo County Republicans, taking 8,508 votes to David Schweikert’s 1,267, Scott Neely’s 917 and Ken Miceli’s 454. County Republicans favored Warren Petersen over Rodney Glassman for attorney general, 6,181 to 4,642 and Alexander Kolodin over Gina Swoboda for secretary of state, 5,687 to 4,714. In the Republican race for superintendent of public instruction, Kimberly Yee edged Tom Horne among county voters, 5,784 to 5,264, while Elijah Norton led Katherine Haley for state treasurer, 6,033 to 4,535. Democratic voters in the county backed Teresa Leyba Ruiz over Brett Matthew Newby for superintendent of public instruction, 5,709 to 2,361.
Several statewide candidates ran unopposed on their party’s ballot, including Governor Katie Hobbs, who received 8,238 votes from county Democrats, along with Adrian Fontes for secretary of state, Kris Mayes for attorney general and Nick Mansour for state treasurer. In the congressional primaries for District 2, Representative Eli Crane ran unopposed on the Republican side with 10,250 county votes, while former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, also unopposed, drew 8,367 votes from county Democrats, previewing a rematch expected to draw significant attention this fall.
Tuesday also marked the Navajo Nation’s presidential primary, held the same day as the county election for the first time after the tribe moved its primary from August to align with Arizona’s schedule. Justin Jones of Rock Point led a field of 16 candidates with 15,039 votes, about 31% and will face Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley, who finished second with 8,546 votes, in the Nov. 3 general election. Incumbent President Buu Nygren finished third with 7,410 votes and was eliminated, conceding the race Wednesday after trailing Curley by roughly 1,100 votes. The result ends Nygren’s bid for a second term and guarantees new leadership in Window Rock next year.
Results remain unofficial until the county completes its canvass. The Tribune will continue to follow the count and report any changes as final numbers are certified.
