Once a generation, every 20 years, the quadrennial presidential election aligns with the decennial census. The year 2020 is going to be one of the monumental years in American political culture as we prepare for both the census and who will lead us for the next four years.
U.S. Census workers are already in Sedona and the Verde Valley, but the federal agency is still looking for temporary paid workers to help count everyone in the country. The census will get into full swing in March and April.
The census aims to count every man, woman and child in the country, providing a snapshot of our country’s demographics. The numbers determine the apportionment in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Based on early estimates, Arizona will likely gain one seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, as will Oregon, North Carolina and Colorado. Florida will likely gain two while Texas is expected to gain three. These seats will come from Rhode Island, New York, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, which are all expected to lose one seat each.
The numbers also determine how the federal government distributes funds through spending formulas and enforces civil rights legislation, in business applications, providing weights for sample surveys, denominators for demographic rates and community planning, and academic and economic institutions use the results for economic and social science research and in post-census population estimates and projections.
In the decade after the census, those statistical numbers extrapolate population growth and trends used by medical researchers, businesses and marketers, social scientists, anthropologists and demographers.
Answers are confidential for 72 years by law. When the results from 2020 are made public for the first time, in 2092, historians and genealogists will use the data to track their ancestors.
The mandate for the census comes from Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, later modified by the 14th Amendment in 1868.
Getting an accurate count is vital to our state’s future. Please fill out the census form or respond to census workers fully and accurately should you be contacted.
The other major event this year is the 2020 election. Depending on jurisdiction, there are five election days in Yavapai County, all Tuesdays: March 10, March 17, May 19, Aug. 4 and Nov. 3. The March 10 and May 19 dates won’t affect Sedona voters.
The March 17 vote is the Presidential Preference Election. This one is the oddball of the cycle. Only registered members of the party can vote, so no left-leaning or right-leaning independents will be permitted to fill out a ballot.
Generally, Republicans, Libertarians and Democrats hold these elections in presidential years, but when a party’s president is running for reelection, the party can opt to cancel, which the Arizona Republican Party has done this year, Thus, only registered Libertarians and Democrats will be voting. If you are independent and want to vote in the presidential preference election, change you party affiliation by Tuesday, Feb. 18.
The Aug. 4, election is the primary for other races. Voters registered as Democrats, Libertarians or Republicans will vote in their party’s primary. Independent and “other” voters have the option of voting in one of the major party’s primary for the parties’ nominees. Independent candidates for partisan seats won’t be on this ballot but will instead be on the November ballot.
Nonpartisan elections, such as Sedona City Council, will be on the ballot regardless of a voter’s party affiliation, with all the candidates listed. If any candidate in a nonpartisan election wins more than 50% of the vote, that election is decided and won’t appear in November. If no candidate for a seat gets 50%, the top two candidates per seat head to runoff in the general election in November.
For example, if 10 candidates run for the three seats on council and one wins 50%, that person is immediately elected to one seat. The other two seats remain open so the next top four candidates proceed and the losing five are cut.
The Nov. 3 general election will include the parties’ nominees and independents for partisan seats, and any runoff elections for nonpartisan seats.
The last day to register to vote for the first of these elections is Tuesday, Feb. 18. Voters can register in minutes online at servicearizona.com.
Please register immediately so you can vote. Democracy only works if we all participate.
Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
