This April utility board election is getting national attention.

This April utility board election is getting national attention.

Competing left– and right–leaning slates of candidates are vying for board seats on Arizona’s little-known Salt River Project (SRP), a public-private entity that sets utility rates for over 1.1 million Phoenix-area residents. This election is much wilder than your typical utility board race for a few reasons: (1) the SRP is an entity that predates Arizona statehood, so it’s not regulated by the state’s Corporation Commission, (2) only landowners can vote for board members, and for district-based board seats each landowner’s voting power is based on the acreage they own, so the more land somebody owns, the more votes they get, and (3) Turning Point USA (yes, that Turning Point USA) is spending serious time and money supporting a slate of candidates to oppose the “Clean Energy Team” slate of candidates. Early voting begins March 11th.
 

Will Dallas’s suburbs dismantle public transit?

A few months ago, 6 of the 13 member cities of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system (DART) voted to hold May 2nd elections on whether to remove their municipalities from DART and stop funding the agency with sales tax revenue. This move would have gutted the transit agency and it led to a series of negotiations that caused Dallas to cede some its voting power on the board and return some sales tax revenue to suburban member cities. Some of the original six suburban municipalities have now cancelled their May 2 break-away votes, but Addison, Highland Park, and University Park are currently moving forward with their elections. The municipalities have until March 18th to cancel their elections. Stay tuned — these are small elections that could have an outsized impact on public transit.

Virginia’s redistricting referendum is a climate election.

In response to mid-decade Republican redistricting in states like Texas, California responded with its own Democratic partisan redistricting last November. Now, Virginia is following suit with an April 21st statewide referendum that could usher in a new congressional map that nets Virginia Democrats an additional 4 seats in the US House of Representatives in time for this fall’s midterm elections. Most analysts believe the US House is a toss-up between Democrats and Republicans, so a 4-seat swing would be significant for clean energy and climate policy-making. Early voting in Virginia began on March 6th.

How You Can Take Action

Join the Environmental Voter Project on Zoom to mobilize low propensity environmental voters for the upcoming Virginia redistricting referendum! Sign up for our Virginia Referendum Briefing Webinar on March 13 at 12pm ET / 9am PT and our Virginia phonebanks using scripts proven to boost turnout: March 17 at 12pm ET / 9am PT, March 27 at 12pm ET / 9am PT, April 2 at 12pm ET / 9am PT, April 7 at 12pm ET / 9am PT, April 14 at 12pm ET / 9am PT, April 19 at 12pm ET / 9am PT, April 20 at 6pm ET / 3pm PT, and April 21 at 12pm ET / 9am PT.

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