My wife, Ann, left at 5 a.m. this morning to work as an election clerk at our voting precinct. They're expecting record turnout. Setting up last night took 3 hours, much longer than usual, as they processed new updates on early voters and the list of newly registered voters. In our precinct (western Tucson) it appears that over 50% of registered voters already have voted.
I voted Friday since I wasn't sure if we would get back from Supai Village in Havasu Canyon in time to vote today. But the winds held yesterday and we got the last helicopter out of the village. Winds are expected to be strong today across northern Arizona as a front moves through, so our alternatives would have been to hike out the 9 miles or wait until the weather cleared. The last couple thousand feet of the trail are almost vertical, so I'm glad we caught the flight.
It's an important election for many reasons. I'll be commenting on the resulting impacts on science, minerals, energy, water, climate change, sustainability, innovation, and public policy in the coming months as the new administration organizes in DC and a new legislature deals with budget shortfalls and other issues in Arizona.