The Gaggle: An Arizona politics podcast The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com

Arizona is just two months away from the July primary. Voters will decide who represents them on the November ballot for the Republican and Democratic parties. But the results of that election will require a little bit of patience.
All 15 Arizona counties are looking for more poll workers to volunteer before the primary as millions of Arizonans are expected to vote. The state's largest counties say recruiting is going smoothly, but the sweltering heat, summer vacations and the popularity of a presidential election is expected to bring in more volunteers in November.
In February, the Legislature passed a law that would guarantee the state's new recount margin wouldn't impact the deadlines. Because of this, the primary election was moved from its usual spot in August to July 30 for the first time this year.
An early election does mean earlier results, but not necessarily fast results. The new election calendar comes with a provision that mandates poll workers in every county to hand count the number of ballots turned in on Election Day.
This is not a hand count of results, but to double-check the number of early ballot envelopes dropped off by voters.
This week on Election Dissection, an elections series of The Gaggle podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Mary Jo Pitzl and Sasha Hupka go through the themes heading into the July primary and what you need to know before heading to the polls.
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It’s the home stretch of the legislative session. Maybe.
Lawmakers are running out of bills to vote on, and budget talks are slogging along behind closed doors. The House is in the midst of a two-week break. But there is one exception to this very unhurried schedule: Ballot referrals.
These are proposed laws that go directly to the voters, avoiding the governor and her veto stamp. Others are amendments to the state Constitution, which require a vote of the people.
This month, two new referrals popped up like blooms on a saguaro cactus. Why are these measures showing up months into the legislative session? 
In this episode of The Gaggle, host Mary Jo Pitzl is joined by Paul Bentz, pollster for the political consulting firm HighGround. Together they discuss what might find its way onto the ballot this year and why Arizonans could expect a longer-than-normal ballot.
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The 2024 presidential race, Arizona’s congressional races and potentially several abortion-related measures command a lot of attention this election year. But there’s another set of really important races that are also on the ballot: the Legislature.
Republicans have two-seat majorities in both the Arizona House and Senate. That means if Democrats could make a net gain of even one seat in either chamber, Arizona would have a divided government that mirrors the house and senate in washington. And if they pick up control in both chambers, well, that would be the first time since the 1960s, so we can only wonder what that might be like in this long-red state.
In this episode of The Gaggle, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl sit down with The Republic's Ray Stern to discuss where Democrats have to win if they really intend to flip control of the Legislature and who is trying to do it. But first, in several key districts, we have to get through some competitive primary races. 
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Republicans have always had the numerical advantage in Arizona. A little more than a third of the state is registered with the GOP. But Republicans have slowly yet steadily lost ground to Democrats in this state. Why is that?
It's more than just changing demographics.
In this episode of The Gaggle, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl sit down with Samara Klar, a political science professor at the University of Arizona to tease apart Arizona voter's preferences.
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In a U.S. Senate race often dominated by Republican front runner Kari Lake, it’s easy to forget that Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb is running for the GOP nomination, too. He’s got a low-key demeanor and his personal style doesn’t seem to linger the way Lake’s combative politics does.
When Lake entered the Senate race in November with former President Donald Trump’s prominent endorsement, many people thought the nominating race was over. But Lamb has stuck around.
In this episode of The Gaggle, Sheriff Lamb shares his views in an exclusive interview on the 1864 abortion law, why he wouldn’t have voted for Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s bipartisan border security bill and ultimately why he wants your vote on the July 30 primary.
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On Wednesday, April 24th, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes shared a video on X, formerly Twitter, announcing that 11 Arizona Republicans and seven others have been charged for falsely certifying that Donald Trump won the state in 2020. This is despite of the fact that Arizonans narrowly favored Joe Biden. 
While the names of those charged have yet to be officially revealed, clues in the the 58 page indictment make it clear that the architects of Trump's national campaign to steal the election are also facing charges in Arizona. Some of those individuals appear to be Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, former chief of staff Mark Meadows, lawyers Jenna Ellis and Christina Bobb, and Trump advisers Boris Epshteyn and Michael Roman.
Trump, who is asking voters to return him to the White House this year, is “unindicted coconspirator 1,” according to the indictment.
In this special episode of The Gaggle, state politics reporters Mary Jo Pitzl and Stacey Barchenger sit down at The Republic's capitol bureau to hash out what we know from the indictment and what may happen next. 
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