Arizona Capitol Times Your Inside Source for Arizona Government, Politics and Business

Arizona is deciding a full slate of statewide, congressional and local races, many of which were highly competitive heading in to the final hours of the campaign. The closeness of the contests has been reflected in the bombardment of attack ads over the final weeks as Democratic, Republican and special interest groups have spent large amounts of money in Arizona. Here is a look at the ticket, and what's at stake:

Of the $4.1 million spent to help four candidates vying for two open seats on the board that regulates Arizona's utilities - more than in any previous Corporation Commission race - the source of more than $3 million of that is shrouded in secrecy. The so-called "dark money" has gone entirely to help Republicans Tom Forese and Doug Little.

If GOP nominee Doug Ducey had shut down his campaign the day after the primary and hadn’t spent a dime since, Republicans still would have spent more than twice as much as Democrats on the Arizona governor’s race.

Outside groups that want Doug Ducey as Arizona’s next governor have spent enough to give every man, woman and child in the state a dollar – and still have $1 million left over.

The views of Republican Sen. Michele Reagan, who is running for the state’s top election office, have evolved since she ran legislation to crack down on dark money entities.

Thanks to the unprecedented millions of dollars in anonymous campaign spending that has poured into Arizona this year, dark money has taken center stage in the election the for Arizona’s next secretary of state.

It is a race that has been seemingly flipped on its head: Traditional Republican groups are supporting the Democrat in the campaign for Arizona's top education official.

The Republican and Democratic candidates for Arizona governor are making a final campaign push through the state as they try to seal a general election win and their parties pull out all the stops to get voters to the polls.

A video which shows a Citizens for a Better Arizona canvasser dropping hundreds of ballots into a box at the Maricopa County Elections Department has re-ignited the debate over “ballot harvesting” by voter outreach groups. The practice is perfectly legal. But that hasn’t stopped critics from claiming voter fraud and even posting death threats against the canvasser in the comments section of the video on YouTube.

The race for Arizona governor has created an odd mix of arguments in a state where recent gubernatorial contests were dominated by divisive issues like immigration. The shift away from hardline rhetoric and toward more nuanced positions marks an effort by both candidates to negate their opponents' key points as they court the growing bloc of independent voters in Arizona.