With the primary election just days away, Nicolas Yendrzeski is giving undecided Maricopa voters one last chance to hear directly from candidates.

Yendrzeski said he planned the last-minute debate specifically for last-minute voters.  

“[It’s] for those that either haven’t turned in their ballot yet or are going to go and vote the day of,” he told InMaricopa. “We felt like other forums weren’t designed to really give candidates the opportunity to really challenge each other’s ideas.” 

The debate will cover a range of topics, including infrastructure and transportation, sustainable development goals, campaign ethics and questions from viewers.  

Yendrzeski said he was still looking forward to hearing the conversation that emerges from the debate.  

“I would like to see those conversations because I don’t think everybody agrees on everything. There’s nothing wrong with disagreement as long as it’s done through civil discourse and it’s done in good faith,” he said. “We should have that conversation to better understand each other’s positions.” 

Voter burnout? 

In a city with approximately 50,000 registered voters, recent candidate events have have drawn smaller crowds and many of the same familiar faces.  

Events hosted by the Rotary Club of Maricopa, Province and the Western Pinal County Chapter of the Arizona Republican Assembly all drew many of the same couple dozen attendees.  

Even specialized events aimed at groups like youth and first-time voters saw small crowds. This included a candidate crawl co-hosted by the Be Awesome Youth Coalition and the Greater Maricopa Business Alliance, which attracted just four attendees outside of candidates and campaign volunteers.  

That may be a sign of voter burnout. An InMaricopa poll in late June showed 53% of respondents felt “tired of the campaigning and drama.” 

Some reported hearing the same answers consistently “regurgitated” by candidates.  

“After reading the Maricopa Monitor Q&A, I feel like all of the candidates regurgitate the same talking points, with the same ‘tell them what they want to hear’ answers,” wrote Rancho Mirage resident Jasmine Pullen. “Y’all know [State Route] 347 is a hot button, so that’s all you focus on.” 

In fact, the last candidate event to see a sizeable and diverse crowd was Blue Copa’s June 11 town hall. About 100 people attended the forum, which brought Democratic city, county and state candidates, like Julia Gusse for the Arizona House of Representatives, Claire Pratt for Arizona Corporation Commission and Teresa Leyba Ruiz for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction.  

Yendrzeski said enticing people to attend such events in Maricopa can be “a difficult thing.” 

“A lot of people just aren’t interested in tuning into the actual local elections because there’s no presidential ballot,” he said. “It’s unfortunate to me because all levels of government are just as important.” 

Vincent Manfredi is the owner of InMaricopa.

[Monica D. Spencer]

[Monica D. Spencer]

[Monica D. Spencer]

[Monica D. Spencer]

[Monica D. Spencer]

[Monica D. Spencer]

[Monica D. Spencer]

[Monica D. Spencer]

[Monica D. Spencer]