By Daniel Scarpinato
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Tuesday November 5, 2002
Arizonans will head to the polls today to vote for a number of state offices that will likely affect the outcome of the UA's future, but with some races neck-and-neck, results may not be in tonight.
With the races for governor and secretary of state expected to be too close to call, voting officials expect the counting could take days.
Democrat Janet Napolitano and Republican Matt Salmon have been campaigning aggressively in a close race for Arizona governor.
A poll late last month, which surveyed 662 voters, showed Napolitano with a 16-point lead among likely voters, up from the previous week's 3-point lead.
But a Rocky Mountain Poll released Friday showed that Napolitano's lead has shrunk to only 3 points over Salmon among "likely voters."
The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 5.6 percentage points.
The split stretches beyond the state's borders. A national poll by the Pew Research Center illustrated the difference, with 46 percent of likely voters siding with Democrats and 44 percent saying they plan to vote for Republicans today.
Whoever inherits the governorship of Arizona will assume a $1 billion state deficit and a seat on the Arizona Board of Regents, which will grant him or her influence in UA-centered issues like tuition increases and admission standards.
The Arizona Students' Association, a student-lobbyist group, is co-sponsoring the effort. The group spent the months preceding the election working to register students to vote.
Election recorders have until Nov. 13 to count and verify early ballot signatures, said State Elections Director Jessica Funkhouser.
Funkhouser expects a rise in early ballot voting from the September primary election, in which nearly 37 percent of registered voters chose to cast early ballots instead of going to their polling precincts.
Voters who have not mailed in their early ballots can still drop them off at their polling precinct or at their county recorder's office between 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. today, Funkhouser said. Also, voters who have moved but failed to submit a change of address can vote at their new precinct and make a change of address there.
In an effort to jump-start college voting, the Associated Students of the University of Arizona is sponsoring a free shuttle service to the polls today from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m.
The shuttle will meet in the circle driveway in front of the UofA Bookstore.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
