Guests - Ted Maxwell, Wade Miller, Rachel Keshel
Pima County's Transportation Future Hinges on March 10 Ballot: Props 418 & 419 Explained
In a wide-ranging discussion on local infrastructure, retired Army Brigadier General Ted Maxwell joined host Kathleen Winn to break down what Pima County voters will face on March 10, 2026, when Propositions 418 and 419 appear on a special election ballot.
The two measures are not a tax increase—they are a seamless 20-year extension of the existing half-cent sales tax that funds the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA). The current tax, in place since voters approved it in 2006, expires July 1, 2026. If the new plan passes, the old tax retires on March 31, 2026, and the new one begins April 1 with no change to the current rate.
“Pima County residents already pay this half-cent,” Maxwell explained. “In unincorporated areas it’s part of the 6.1% total sales tax; inside Tucson city limits it’s baked into the higher rate. A ‘yes’ vote keeps the rate exactly where it is and funds a new 20-year plan.”
The RTA is a partnership between the City of Tucson, towns of Marana, Oro Valley, Sahuarita, South Tucson, unincorporated Pima County, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, and the Tohono O’odham Nation. Tucson casts the largest bloc of votes on the nine-member board, but growth in Marana and Oro Valley is rapidly shifting population outside city limits.
Maxwell, who also serves on the Arizona State Transportation Board, stressed that state funding for local roads is effectively nonexistent. “We’re trying to maintain and expand roads with 41 cents on the dollar compared to 1991, while lane-miles have increased 54%,” he said. Federal gas taxes and state vehicle license taxes have not kept pace with inflation or electric-vehicle adoption.
Key improvements in the new plan include:
Four new or rebuilt traffic interchanges on I-10
Major arterial reconstruction (not just pothole patching) with a certified 10-year life
Flexibility to reallocate funds every three to five years if a jurisdiction can’t execute projects on schedule
Stronger oversight to prevent the delays that inflated costs in the original RTA, most notably on Broadway and Grant Road
On the controversial question of Tucson’s road maintenance record, Maxwell was blunt: “Some of the worst roads are inside Tucson, and 13,000 residents from Oro Valley and Marana drive them daily for work. Rebuilding arterial roads benefits the entire region.”
He dismissed claims the plan funds Sun Tran’s fare-free program: “Zero RTA dollars go to fare-free buses. The biggest transit losers if this fails are paratransit and dial-a-ride services relied on by seniors and disabled residents outside Tucson.”
If the measures fail, Maxwell warned, coordination ends and each jurisdiction will raise its own taxes—or not—leading to patchwork funding and even worse disparity in road quality.
Census Manipulation: How Differential Privacy Cost Red States Congressional Seats
Wade Miller, vice president at the Center for Renewing America and a Marine Corps veteran, laid out evidence that the 2020 census was systematically skewed to benefit Democratic representation.
“The Census Bureau now admits significant undercounts in red states and overcounts in blue states,” Miller said. “Arizona alone was undercounted by enough people to cost us our tenth congressional seat. Texas was shortchanged by over half a million residents.”
But the bigger scandal, according to Miller, is an Obama-era algorithm called “differential privacy.” For the first time in history, the Bureau injected statistical “noise” into block-level data before releasing it to states for redistricting.
“That noise disproportionately moves rural residents into urban centers on paper,” Miller explained. “Red states that pack urban Democratic strongholds into fewer districts suddenly find those cities artificially swollen. Blue states do the reverse.”
The result? An estimated 6–30 seat swing toward Democrats in the House, plus skewed state legislatures and local maps.
Miller pointed out that even Harvard scholars acknowledge differential privacy produces unconstitutional outcomes. A pending lawsuit by America First Legal could force Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to settle by scrapping the algorithm and republishing corrected 2020 data.
“Getting accurate citizen-only counts for the 2030 census is now an existential priority,” Miller concluded. “Without it, Democrats can permanently dilute the representation of American citizens.”
Pima County Election Integrity Under Fire—Again
State Representative Rachel Keshel (LD-17) joined Winn to discuss ongoing problems with the Pima County Recorder’s office, including the refusal to allow legally credentialed observers during the November 2025 Tucson city election.
“Two-thirds of Americans no longer trust our elections, and incidents like this are why,” Keshel said. “Observers were turned away despite proper paperwork. Ballots were seen spilling from overstuffed drop boxes. The recorder’s staff even claimed—falsely—that the post office shreds undeliverable ballots.”
Keshel praised Pima County GOP Chairwoman Kathleen Winn for immediately demanding answers from Governor Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes.
Among upcoming legislative priorities Keshel highlighted:
Returning to precinct-based voting (with a compromise raising the voter cap per precinct to 2,000–2,500 at the request of new Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap)
Requiring mail ballots to be requested each election (Florida model)
Strengthening chain-of-custody rules
Major reforms to family, juvenile, and probate courts to combat elder abuse and parental-rights violations
Keshel also endorsed election-law attorney Alex Kolodin for Secretary of State, calling current procedures “lawless loopholes that keep the same people in power.”
On Governor Hobbs, Keshel noted fresh scrutiny over pay-to-play allegations involving a group-home operator that donated heavily to her campaign and inauguration before receiving favorable rate changes no other provider was granted.
As Arizona’s Republican voter registration advantage climbs past 300,000, Keshel predicted: “It’s getting harder and harder for them to steal statewide races. The people have had enough.”
The March 10, 2026, special election on RTA continuation will be administered county-wide by the Pima County Recorder’s office—the very office now facing demands for transparency and reform.