THATCHER — Put a group of Gila Valley residents in a room together, and an action plan will result.
Arizona Town Hall was at Eastern Arizona College on Thursday to get Graham County residents’ thoughts on voting and election systems.
The group was asked a series of questions, including:
- What constitutes an effective democracy?
- How important is an effective democracy to us individually, to our community, to our state, and to our nation?
- How does our current political and civic systems support an effective democracy?
- What changes should we consider to our election process?
- What actions should be taken to make voting, electing and democracy more effective?
“The biggest thing we hope for is solutions that work for everyone in Arizona, including those local communities,” said Tara Jackson, Arizona Town Hall president. “What was great about the discussion today is you heard people from different political parties, and the Chamber and others, say, ‘Here’s how we can work together for our community,’ in a way that comes together versus the polarized, divisiveness that has been a flavor we’ve seen in our political sphere recently.”
Taking a cue from EAC’s Non-Partisan Club, which held a voter registration event on campus last October; Graham County Republicans, Democrats and independents participating in Thursday’s Town Hall agreed to put together a countywide event that would spearhead voter registration, encourage increased voter turnout and allow voters to meet with candidates for local, state and federal office, regardless of party. The event would be supported by the Chamber of Commerce and local media.
The comments offered by Thursday’s participants will be collected into a report that will be posted to Arizona Town Hall’s website.
After the final listening stop in Tucson on Oct. 17, all the comments will be collected into a final report that state and local leaders can use as a blueprint to effect change.
Thursday’s Town Hall event was sponsored by the Thomas R. Brown Foundations, in collaboration with Eastern Arizona College and the Graham County Chamber of Commerce. General community program sponsors are SRP, APS, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and the Center for the Future of Arizona.
