Ballot Math / School districts / Liberty Elementary
School board race: Liberty Elementary School District

Liberty Elementary: a former board member returns, and two district insiders run as a team

November 3, 2026 general election. Liberty Elementary School District serves the Buckeye and Goodyear area. No incumbent is on this ballot. One candidate is a former board member who resigned mid-meeting in 2024; the other two are current or recent district procurement staff running together.
How this race works: two of the board's five seats are up, both for four-year terms. Three candidates are on the ballot; vote for up to two and the top two win. Board service is unpaid.

Paul Bixler

She previously served on this board from 2020 through 2024, resigning halfway through her final meeting. She was the first transgender woman to hold elected office in Arizona. Before earning a bachelor's degree in education from Arizona State University, she served in the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps. In 30 years in public education she worked as a teacher, counselor, coach, and office administrator.
  • Controversy on the record, per the Republic: during her earlier service she was the subject of protest after a woman objected to her use of a women's locker room at a gym and then protested her placement on the school board. It is part of her public history in this district and voters will encounter it; it concerns her identity, not her board votes.

Maeghan Kinnan

She works as a buyer for Tolleson Union High School District and previously worked as a procurement specialist for Liberty Elementary itself. She is running as a team with Ashley Wright.

Ashley Wright

Running with Kinnan; she has a background in business.
  • Stated priorities: she has criticized the district's turnover of superintendents and the effect that instability has on teachers and students.

Verification notes

  • School board campaigns file finance reports with Maricopa County. No raised or spent totals for these campaigns appeared in the coverage we reviewed; we print no totals rather than guess.
  • About a possible Liberty override: two advocacy sources (Save Our Schools Arizona and an LD 25 Democrats ballot guide) list a Liberty Elementary maintenance and operations override on the November 2026 ballot, but the district does not appear on the Maricopa County School Superintendent's official 2026 bond and override list, and we found no district pamphlet or call of election for one. We therefore do not present a Liberty override as confirmed. If your ballot shows one, the official pamphlet mailed to district households is the document of record, and we would want to know about the discrepancy.
  • Kinnan's and Wright's detailed platforms were thin in the sources reviewed; their entries are short because the record is short.

How to vote without getting your ballot rejected

  • Mail it by Tuesday, October 27, 2026. After that day, do not mail it: use a drop box or a vote center instead.
  • It must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3. Postmarks do not count.
  • Sign and date the affidavit envelope, and write a current phone number on it.
  • Leaving any item blank is allowed. In this race you may vote for one candidate, two, or none; it does not affect the rest of your ballot.

Sources

  • Certified candidates, Maricopa County School Superintendent: schoolsup.org (PDF)
  • Maricopa County School Superintendent, bond and override elections list (Liberty absent): schoolsup.org
  • Arizona Republic school board guide, October 2, 2026: azcentral.com
Ballot Math: analysis only, no endorsements. Every candidate in this race got the same template: background, stated priorities, the record that exists, and honest notes where the record is thin.