Reflections from the Arizona PBS forum Elections in Evolution
Last week, I took part in a panel at Arizona State University’s Mechanics of Democracy Laboratory. The conversation was recorded for Arizona PBS’s AZ Votes Forum: Elections in Evolution, which aired Friday.
The panel brought together people who experience Arizona’s election system from very different perspectives: Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, Votebeat reporter Sasha Hupka, former Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates, and me, speaking as a business leader and co-chair of Leadership Now Arizona.
We talked about proposed changes to election law. What it actually takes to administer an election, as well as alternative forms of political representation. We also discussed the growing challenge of maintaining a shared set of facts. We also considered how frequent changes to election law, including Proposition 144, create complexity and delays that may reduce confidence in our elections.
Trust is not a spectator sport
In my view, many of us in business have treated democracy as something that runs quietly in the background. We are busy operating and build companies. We are leading teams of people in competitive markets, raising families, and trying to care for our health. We have mostly assumed our elections will, like our highways and other public goods, continue to be safe, accessible, and reliable.
This describes me and many of my friends in business. My wife and I spent years raising five children while building two national businesses. It is difficult to know where to make a difference without getting entrapped in false choices and unproductive partisan fights.
Unfortunately, as most everyone in Arizona can recognize, staying out of it has real negative consequences.
Business depends on predictability
I think we can agree, that every business needs a stable environment in which to operate. The rule of law isn’t an abstract idea to business leaders. We count on courts to enforce contracts. We expect laws to be applied consistently and public institutions to work as intended. We invest today because we have reasonable expectations about tomorrow.
The principle that protects a contract is the same one that requires public officials to follow election law—and candidates to accept legitimate results once every lawful challenge and appeal has been resolved.
Chaos, confusion, and manufactured suspicion around elections don’t remain confined to politics. They can carry over to the workforce and our communities. They weaken confidence in the broader environment in which businesses and communities operate.
During the forum, I said I’d like government to become boring again. I meant effective, stable, and less demanding of our constant attention. Good government should leave people free to focus on their families, neighborhoods, work, and futures.
That kind of stability doesn’t maintain itself. We have to support the people doing the work. From election officials to journalists who seek the truth, business leaders can lean in and make a difference.
Truth is expensive
During the panel discussion, I made a point that reaches well beyond elections: truth is expensive.
Good journalism costs money. Careful reporting takes time. So do accurate ballot counts, investigations, and verification.
A false claim can race across the internet in minutes. Correcting it may take days of painstaking work, and the correction rarely travels as far as the original lie.
That imbalance is especially troubling at a time when Arizona’s local news organizations are under tremendous strain. Millions of people live in our state, but only a small fraction regularly pay for serious local journalism. As local reporting shrinks, so does the body of information we hold in common. Common knowledge is something I have discussed before and is a vital foundation for a healthy society.
Without local journalism, there is more room for confusion and political manipulation. It is also worth considering how foreign adversaries can benefit when Americans distrust one another.
Businesses can’t solve this alone. But we can do three things easily.
Support election officials and recognize that the work they do must be secure and safe. Discourage violence in all of its forms.
Support serious journalism
Support serious and honest candidates. We can insist that candidates deal honestly with voters. And we can stop rewarding people who knowingly undermine legitimate elections and promote clear lies.
It is, in my view, as simple as this question.
If you lose, will you accept the certified result once the lawful appeals process is complete?
The answer should matter regardless of party. I will not support any candidate who cannot make this pledge or who has participated in undermining confidence in election results.
Arizona has something worth protecting
Arizona’s elections aren’t perfect. Maricopa County is the fifth largest county in the nation and larger then many states. It is complex and we must recognize that mistakes happen and there will always be ways to improve the operations of our elections..
But there’s a profound difference between identifying a real problem and manufacturing doubt for political advantage.
I believe that Arizona has capable election professionals, committed civic organizations, responsible reporters, and citizens who want elections to be safe, accessible, and accurate. That foundation is stronger than many of the loudest voices would have us believe.
The business community has a choice. We can stay on the sidelines and hope trust somehow repairs itself. Or we can bring our voices and practical experience to strengthening the institutions on which we all depend. As one easy step, please consider joining the non-partisian work of the Leadership Now Project.
Too many of us have sat back for too long. Its time to show up.
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