4 reasons to vote in Arizona’s Aug. 2 primary election – The Arizona Republic

Opinion: There are still stark and important choices to make in the Aug. 2 primary, even if key issues have been drowned out by nastiness and disinformation.

Editorial board| Arizona Republic

Arizona is facing a host of critical questions about education, our water supply, our continued well-being as a state.

But this election hasnt focused much on answers.

Thatsdisheartening. If the issues that voters say they care most about and that matter most to our statesfuture cant rise above thenastiness and disinformation that has flowed from candidates, why even vote?

Because there are still stark and important choices to be made in the Aug. 2 primaryelection. Voters will nominatethe Republican and Democratic contenders whowill face offin the November general election.

Most posts are up for grabs this year. That includes governor, the 90-member Legislature, secretary of state, education chief, attorney general and one U.S. Senate seat.

Here are fourquestionsyou can answer about our states direction as you vote.

The Arizona primary for governor is a bellwether for the future of politics in Arizona and the United States.

It will help answer one of the most pressing questions before the country:

Will the Republican Party continue down the trail of disruptive national populism blazed by Donald Trump, or will it return to its more sober traditions of Goldwater, Reagan and McCain?

Key battleground: What Trump, Pence visits mean for GOP's future

The two candidates still standing and competitive are Kari Lake and Karrin Taylor Robson.

Lake is the female embodiment of Donald Trump, who took the bit of Stop the Steal and never let go. She is pugnacious and iron-eyed like Trump and has sowed doubt about the election results to come should she lose, just like Trump.

She has Trumps endorsement and his appetite for border politics, and she plays politics like a game of Mortal Kombat.

Karrin Taylor Robson is a harder read.

She comes from a family of Arizona Republicans.Hers is an old-school Republicanism. Less bare knuckled and more buttoned down. Less impulsive and more competent.

The fighting spirit of Kari Lake is attractive to the impassioned base. It wants to blow up the old politics.

The calm demeanor of Karrin Taylor Robson would steady the party ship. But that may be unsatisfying in revolutionary times.

And there stands the key question:

Are Republicans still in a fighters crouch, or do they crave the more stable politics of an earlier time?

Arizona hasnt had a Democratic governor since Janet Napolitano resigned in 2009 to work for the Obama administration. But given all the turmoil in the GOP, could this be the year that changesthat?

Democrats will choosebetweenSecretary of State Katie Hobbs or Marco Lpez, a former mayor andObama administration official.

Hobbs has earned national attention defending the 2020 election, but also for her role in a lawsuitby a former Senate staffer. Two juriesfound the employee was racially discriminated against on the job.

Thats going to be a powerful weapon against Hobbs should she win the Democratic nomination. Shes been a no-show on many campaign gatherings and refused to debate Lpez, a huge disserviceto voters who deserve to see candidates face off.

Lpez is seeking to become the first Latino elected governor in half a century, though he has faced an uphill battle to gain recognition, particularly after he was linked to an international bribery investigation.

Lpez maintains his innocence.

The choice is simple in the state House and Senate:

Will voters retain conservatives like Sen. Tyler Pace, Rep. Joanne Osborne and House Speaker Rusty Bowers, who are running for Senatelawmakers who werent afraid to workwith others andvotetheir conscience?

Or will they choose a slate ofAmerica First candidates thatwant to boot them, who along with a newly formed Arizona Freedom Caucus have promised to vote unquestionably as a bloc, no matter the issue?

If the latter, voters can bet that this bloc will pressure and intimidate others to steamroll itsagenda one that could plunge the state even deeperinto the ultrapopulist playbook.

And in that case, it wont matter who wins the governorship, or where others say they stand on the issues. Lawmaking will become the America First way, or the highway.

Kari Lake and others are already crying voter fraud without offering a shred of evidence.

Dont believe them. Theyre just setting themselves up for a fight should they lose on Tuesday.

But its no less dangerous, because theirfalse claims further erodeconfidence in the election process.

Theyve tried everything to discredit voting. A multimillion-dollar bogus election audit, lawsuits, selecting fake electors to overturn 2020 election results. All of that failed because theres no proof of widespread fraud.

Arizonans must fight back with their vote.

Thats how our representative democracy works. People vote freely,without any threat of intimidation. Whoever gets the most votes in a particular race wins.

Thats why it is important to know that voting is safe and that nobody is stealing or messing with your ballot.

More than half amillion voters in Maricopa County have already cast their ballot. Those with early ballots can still do so before Tuesday.

Its too late to mail them. But you can still vote in person or drop off your early ballot at any of the voting locations listed at Locations.Maricopa.Vote.

Polling locationswill beopen from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

This is an opinion of The Arizona Republic's editorial board.

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4 reasons to vote in Arizona's Aug. 2 primary election - The Arizona Republic