December 19, 2023:  A lot has happened since Threads launched at the beginning of July 2023.  Twitter became X and went total conspiracy-comfortable as a platform.  In the last week noted and convicted conspiracist Alex Jones has been welcomed back on the platform.  For many advertisers and major content accounts that was it, and they have begun to disengage from X.

After a big start with a 100 million signups, Threads found it's daily user numbers declining.  However, during the last four months the Threads team has added a lot of functionality including a desktop app, a new version of hashtags and enhanced search and filtering.  The result has been increased user engagement and major content creators getting serious about using this platform.

More politicians, campaigns, and activists groups are showing up on  Threads.  Now may be the time to take a look at getting on.

I'm on there  Threads.net/@rwkarp  and in the last few weeks I went from just a few followers up to 60+.  (Not huge but the right direction).

Update:  July 31, 2023 - Twitter is now X and that's about all that can be said about Elon Musk and his ownership of the platform.

Let's start by agreeing that we don't want to support Elon Musk.  However, Twitter is used by millions of people every day.  Here are a few reasons to take the time to build a Twitter following and use it to communicate with a small portion of voters and the public.  For candidates:

1. Twitter is still a trend setter.  Having your campaign on the platform gives you some "cred".
2. Many reporters that are covering Cochise County are on Twitter.  Following them will gain their attention.
3. Compared to your website or even Facebook, Twitter makes it relatively easy to put out a reaction, event, statement in real time.
4. You can do it with no cost.  (A big no to the blue checkmark or premium offer.)
5. Your campaign can amplify other opinions and events by retweeting.  (Follow opinion makers)
6. Twitter reaches an audience that may not be easy to reach other ways.  (See below)

The Washington Post recently had some interesting stats on who uses Twitter.  Twitter leans younger than Facebook and certainly more Democratic Party than other platforms.  Click on the graphic to see a clearer picture.

From the Washington Post

A large portion of the Twitter universe of left-leaners is under 50, and about 40% are under 30!  If you want to reach a younger, left-leaning audience, Twitter may be one tool you want to use.  Now on to the bad stuff.

1. Indirectly you are helping Elon Musk by being on the platform. Ugh.
2. Who knows if Twitter will be around by November 2024.  Pay attention.
3. You will get lots of nasty feedback from "Twitter trolls".  You can block them if you want.
4. It is very hard to build followers.  Don't be discouraged.  Some suggestions in the June Cochise Project Candidate Newsletter.
5. Getting on is easy, it's a bit harder to understand how Twitter works and the best way to include video, photos, graphics or retweet.

Twitter is not for everyone and may not be right for your campaign based on many factors including time involved using the platform.  But don't write it off without some serious discussion with your campaign team.

The county elections department has updated their website with information for potential candidates running for county-wide office as well as school boards and special districts.

The summary page 2024 Candidate Resources has links to forms, and additional information.  Before you run, be sure to review this page.

For candidates running for county offices including school boards.  Once you have filed your Statement of Interest and started to collect signatures on your nomination petitions, you may need to create your campaign committee.  Not all candidates form a committee.  However according to Arizona election statute within 10 days after your campaign’s combined receipts and/or disbursements exceed $1,400, the candidate must file a Committee using the Statement of Organization form (PDF).  As long as your campaign’s combined receipts and disbursements do not exceed $1,400, you may skip this step.

Note:  Once you file a committee, you are obligated to filing regular campaign finance reports subject to late fees.

The county form looks a bit overwhelming, but a careful review before you fill it out will make the process go more smoothly.  Here's the minimum you will need:

• Candidate name
• Committee name
• Office and district sought
• Party affiliation   (Democrat!)
• Year of election cycle (2024)
• Name and address information for Chairperson and Treasurer (see below for more detail)
• Name of the committee's bank (see below for more detail)

The next section asks for committee address, email address, Chairperson, Treasurer address, email address, and phone.  The committee can have the same address and email as the candidate, and there is no requirement that you have to have a separate chairperson or treasurer.  The candidate can do both of these positions.  However, if you have someone, particularly for Treasurer, make sure they will do the job.  Your Treasurer will be responsible for filing campaign finance reports.  The candidate is ultimately responsible for this.

If you add a chairperson or treasurer after filing this Statement of Organization, you can update it with the county elections department.

You also need the name of the bank where you will maintain campaign funds.  You do not need an account number for the filing.

Your campaign committee name will appear on all your literature, signs, website, so choose something short that includes at least the candidate last name.  Make sure the county approves your committee name before you use it.  After you file, the county will provide you with a calendar of when you have to report campaign finance as well as how the reports are formatted.

That is outside the scope of this website.

Make sure you have the most recent PDF of the partisan nomination petition.  This should be available on the Arizona Secretary of State’s website https://azsos.gov/elections/candidates.

Note:  As of publication date of this post the website is under “transition” to Secretary of State Fontes.  Whatever that means.  The PDF of the petition does not seem to be online now.  Contact the SOS office at 602-542-4285 to have them send you a petition.

Below is an example of a partisan nomination petition with important elements highlighted.

Best practice:  Use a PDF editor to fill in all the boxes clearly with black font.  Make sure the Candidate Name is at least similar to your voter registration name and is probably the name that you would have appear on the ballot.  For example, my petition had Bob Karp while my voter registration name is Robert W. Karp.  Both would be fine and I used Bob Karp on all my signs.

 Address must be where you reside.  This is critical.  Don’t get fancy here and put down a PO Box because you don’t want people to know where you live.  If that is the only residence address you have, then you can use a PO Box.  If in doubt check with the AZ SOS.

Election to be had date is the date of the August 2024 PRIMARY election.  The example above has the date, but make sure you have verified the correct primary date for your race.  Spell out the month and put the full year.  This makes the date more readable and precise.

How about a photo?  Yes please, but don’t use a color one unless that is the best and only one you have.  Why waste color ink printing duplicate petitions?  (More on printing in a later post)

The PDF file you get from the AZ SOS or another source will also have a back side that must be included with the petition.   (Shown below)

How to print the petition.

Once you have your filled in nomination petition (top portion) ready for circulation it's time to print copies.  Two simple ways to accomplish this:  print at your home or office using a inkjet or laser printer, or take it to a copy shop such as UPS store or Staples.  Either way make sure you follow these "best practices".

Printing from home or office

Print directly from the PDF of your nomination petition.  DO NOT MAKE copies from a printed petition.  While this may be OK for county or city petitions, it is not acceptable for state legislature and statewide offices.  In our current political environment where there are also sorts of challenges to petitions be safe, don't do it.  Making copies from copies reduces the size of the printed area each time you do it.  Some jurisdictions use special scanning software to process signed petitions.  (Unlikely in Cochise County, but possible)  Have your printer settings set to actual size rather than size to fit to make sure they petition printed image is not reduced.

Be sure to print the back side of the petition on each petition.  If you have a duplexing printer you can choose "print both sides of the paper".  It is critical that the circulator of the petition has both sides of the petition when they circulate.

The best was to ensure this to it print the back side of each petition.  This way you don't lose the back side of the petition when it goes to the campaign for validation and filing.  The law requires that the circulator fill out and sign the back side of the petition before they turn it in for it to be valid.

If you do not have a duplexing printer you can feed the petitions back through and print the back side.  Test that first to make sure you get the image on correctly.

Using a commercial copy store

They will usually print to a high volume copying machine rather than directly to a printer.  Make sure you ask them not to copy from a copy, only your original and have their machine set to 100% or actual size.