Ballot Math / School districts / Union Elementary
School board race and measures: Union Elementary School District

Union Elementary: two seats (one decided by write-in), plus operating and capital override questions

November 3, 2026 general election. Union Elementary School District No. 62 serves the Tolleson and west Phoenix area. The board race includes a certified write-in, and the district's two money questions are styled Question 1 and Question 2 on the ballot.
How this race works: two board seats are up, both for four-year terms. Reanna Kiefer and Tabitha Velasquez are printed on the ballot. Nubia Briceno is a certified write-in: write her name in and fill in the oval, and only votes for certified write-ins count. Vote for up to two candidates in any combination. Board service is unpaid. The county list does not mark incumbency and the Republic's guide does not profile this district, so no biographies are claimed for any of the three; the verified record is the field itself.

Question 1: a 15 percent maintenance and operations override

In one sentence: Union Elementary may exceed its state operating budget limit by 15 percent, raising an estimated $2,076,649, per the district's informational pamphlet.

The M&O override funds operations: salaries, class sizes, and programs. If it fails or later expires without renewal, that budget authority phases down and ends.

Question 2: a district additional assistance override

The companion question authorizes a District Additional Assistance override, the capital-side override that funds buses, technology, and building needs. Its estimated amount, derived from the pamphlet's budget table (the district's budget with both questions minus its budget with Question 1 only), is about $1,300,000. Treat that figure as approximate: it is arithmetic from the district's table, not a headline number the district published.

The math for your household

Per-household rates were not stated in the pamphlet pages we reviewed

The pamphlet gives the dollar totals above but the estimated tax rates per $100 of assessed value for the two questions were not captured in the sources available to us. The method, once you have the rate from the pamphlet mailed to your household: your annual cost is the rate times your home's net assessed value divided by 100. We print the totals, which are verified, and decline to invent the rates.

A YES vote (each question)

That override authority is in place: operating money under Question 1, capital money under Question 2.

A NO vote (each question)

That authority is not granted (or not renewed), and the district budgets without it.

The strongest case for YES

  • Small district, standard tools. Supporters argue overrides are how Arizona elementary districts fund anything beyond the bare state formula, and Union's combined ask of roughly $3.4 million is modest by county standards.

The strongest case for NO

  • Show the rate. Opponents generally argue that ballot materials should put the per-household cost in front of voters in plain figures, and a district asking for two overrides at once should expect to be judged on both together.

Verification notes

  • The Question 2 amount of about $1,300,000 is derived from the pamphlet's budget table, as explained above; its lesser-of wording and estimated tax rate were not captured.
  • Whether Question 1 is styled a new override or a renewal in the pamphlet's legal text was not captured in the sources we reviewed; the dollar amount is the pamphlet's.
  • School board campaigns file finance reports with Maricopa County. No finance totals or campaign materials for the three board candidates were found in the sources we reviewed.

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.
  • For the write-in candidate, write the name clearly and fill in the oval. Only certified write-in candidates can receive countable votes.

Sources

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.