Highlights
- LUCHA trained 253 people at a July 11 Phoenix session and targets 500 observers statewide by the November general election.
- Volunteers are instructed to stay outside the 75-foot boundary line, remain nonpartisan, and report concerns through established channels.
- LUCHA Executive Director Alejandra Gomez said immigration enforcement activity near polling sites is a deliberate suppression tactic.
- Maricopa County says poll worker recruiting remains steady despite a 2026 Brennan Center survey finding 32% of local election officials reported being threatened, harassed, or abused.
Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) trained 253 volunteers at a July 11 session in Phoenix to serve as poll observers during Arizona's primary and general elections, with a second training planned in Tucson before the primary and a goal of 500 trained observers by November.
The effort comes as Arizona polling sites prepare for an unusually dense layer of oversight: party-appointed monitors, congressional monitors, and federal election monitors from the Department of Justice, which has announced it will send observers to states where it says election integrity problems have occurred. LUCHA leaders said they are also worried about Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents or National Guard troops appearing at polling locations, and the group maintains a map it says tracks verified ICE sightings across Arizona.
Karime Rodriguez, services manager with the Arizona Center for Empowerment, led the Phoenix training. She instructed volunteers to be nonpartisan, stay outside the 75-foot boundary line, and provide only factual information to ensure eligible voters can vote. Volunteers are not permitted to influence voters or wear partisan clothing, and are trained to watch for issues including proper opening and closing times, broken voting equipment, accessibility problems, and language assistance needs.
Organizers simulated a scenario in English and Spanish in which President Donald Trump ordered National Guard deployment to Phoenix and Tucson polling locations during early voting, walking participants through strategies to defuse tense situations.
"They want immigrant families wondering if showing up near a voting center could put them or someone they love at risk. They want chaos because chaos suppresses turnout," LUCHA Executive Director Alejandra Gomez said. "When we say there are looming threats to election subversion, we are not being dramatic. We are reading the signals."
The Arizona Mirror and Tucson Sentinel both reported on the training events, noting LUCHA organized sessions in Phoenix's Maryvale neighborhood and in Tucson.
The security backdrop is real. A 2026 Brennan Center for Justice survey of local election officials found nearly one in four said they are concerned about being assaulted at home or at work, and 32% reported being threatened, harassed, or abused. Arizona has added active-shooter training for poll workers in response.
Despite those pressures, Maricopa County says staffing has held. Jennifer Liewer, deputy elections director for communications, said recruiting poll workers has not become more difficult, though the job itself has grown harder. The Elections Department expands from roughly 60-70 permanent staff to about 4,000 people during election season, and the county increases its recruiting team to 12-15 people to manage the surge.
Former Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates noted that DOJ election monitors and poll observers are not new, recalling a federal presence in Navajo County in 2002, and said the current environment should not be cause for alarm as long as participants follow state law and remain civil.
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a video posted to X that federal monitors will go to places where election integrity problems have occurred, citing examples such as incorrect poll books and language access failures.
LUCHA, founded in Phoenix in 2009 as a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization, reported assets of $11,399,878 and revenue of $8,986,361 as of 2024, according to Influence Watch. Gomez has served as co-executive director since 2015.
The Tucson training session is scheduled before the primary election; the November general election observer target remains 500 volunteers.
Sources
Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.
- azcapitoltimes.com retrieved 17/07/2026 17:49
Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 17/07/2026 17:49. Every claim traces to a source.
