ON A GLORIOUS SPRING DAY IN PHOENIX, in an atrium beneath the majestic cupola of the old state Capitol, secretary of state Adrian Fontes is celebrating Arizona's 112th birthday.
He solemnly recites President William Howard Taft's proclamation welcoming Arizona as the 48th state of the union. Speeches fete the state's landscapes, from the Grand Canyon to the deserts of Yuma and lush green forests of Coconino, then a cake iced with the state seal is cut into 112 pieces and devoured in the sun-dappled Rose Garden.
There is only one discordant note on this otherwise joyous day. Who is that person standing silently and alert behind Fontes? Why is Arizona's chief election administrator, responsible for the smooth operation of November's presidential election, in need of a bodyguard? "It's very sad," Fontes said.
"It's a sad state of affairs that in a civil society, in one of the most advanced civilisations that anybody could have imagined, we have to worry about physical violence."
These are troubled times in Arizona. Until 2020, election officials were the anonymous folk who made sure democracy run smoothly.
All that changed with Donald Trump's unprecedented refusal to accept defeat in the 2020 election. His conspiracy to subvert the election has had an explosive impact in Arizona, a battleground state that has become arguably the ground zero of election denial in America.
In 2020, the Republican-controlled state legislature sponsored a widely discredited "audit" of votes in Maricopa county, the largest constituency, which contains Phoenix. Republican leaders put themselves forward as fake electors in a possibly criminal attempt to flip Joe Biden's victory in Arizona to Trump's.
Denne historien er fra March 22, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Denne historien er fra March 22, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Starlink's conquest of the Amazon leaves Brazil in a dilemma
The helicopter swooped into one of the most inaccessible corners of the Amazon rainforest. Brazilian special forces commandos leaped from it into the caiman-inhabited waters below.
Dalai Lama's mountain town feels the strain of tourist boom
SUVs and saloon cars pass slowly along McLeod Ganj's narrow one-way Jogiwara Road, blaring horns at pedestrians and scooter riders and playing loud music.
'I am all the world' The brutal rule of a West Bank settler
Palestinians tell ofblacklisted Yakov's reign across the Jabal Salman valley and heisjust one of many violent bosses
Stormy waters New flashpoint emerges in South China Sea dispute
Hopes that tensions in the South China Sea might ease have been short lived.
'Justice delayed' Why trust in public inquiries to bring closure is fading
After the final report of the Grenfell fire inquiry was published, Hisam Choucair, who lost six family members in the blaze, said: \"We did not ask for this inquiry... It's delayed the justice my family deserves.\"
Celeriac soup with almond pangrattato
I'm not ashamed to say that as soon as September hits, my stick blender comes out. Just as I embrace salads when the clocks go forward in the UK, I wholeheartedly throw myself into soup season once the summer holidays end. Autumn is approaching in the northern hemisphere and I'm ready with my ladle. Celeriac is one of my favourite soup heroes, because it gives the creamiest, silkiest finish with little effort. You don't have to make the almond pangrattato, but it is a wonderful addition.
Are smoke signals telling me to make an oil change in the kitchen?
Should you that is, not can you) cook with extra-virgin olive oil? Antonio, Atlanta, Georgia, US
Going underground
A darkly humorous encounter between an American spy-cop and the members ofan eco-commune she is hired to infiltrate
All work and no play
Hard Graft, a powerfulnew London exhibition, focuses onworkers’ exploitation, from the ruined hands ofa washerwoman to mothers forced to sell their bodies
What the princess and the shaman tell us about hereditary privilege
It should have been an Instagram-perfect wedding image, but it turned out to be something more embarrassing.
