Is Sen. Justine Wadsack really as clueless as she comes across?

“It’s October 30th. Do YOU know where your BALLOT is?”

So begins the unmasking of a state senator who last week demonstrated a depth of understanding of basic civics that is …

… Well, it’s astounding, really.

This is the Wadsack we know

Sen. Justine Wadsack, R-Tucson, is one of a bumper crop of far-right culture warriors sent to the state Capitol this year to troll drag queens and teachers and such.

A Bible quoting, book banning cartoon character who posts pictures of herself in front of the Capitol with her trusty AR-15-style rifle — in high heels, no less — and likes social media posts suggesting 9/11 was a government conspiracy.

Naturally, the Arizona Republican Party named her “Freshman Senator of the Year.”

She's registered in the Vail district

Last week, Wadsack issued a reminder about this week’s election, posting on X (formerly Twitter) a completed ballot she claimed was hers, “to use as a guide when filling it out.”

There was just one problem.

The ballot Wadsack posted included a bond question from the Tucson Unified School District.

Wadsack is registered to vote in the Vail Unified School District, having moved out of her family's TUSD-area home last year in order to run for the Legislature in a safe Republican district.

So, Dylan Smith, editor and publisher of the Tucson Sentinel, questioned her about it.

“You’re not registered to vote in TUSD. (You ran from 85747.) Whose ballot are you showing to the public?” he asked on social media.

It’s a legitimate question, given that it’s a crime to post a picture of somebody else’s competed ballot on the internet.

Wadsack confuses cities and schools

Wadsack proceeded to offer an eye-opening display of her keen intellect and thin skin.

“This is about MY taxes going to TUSD, so I get to have a say...,” she wrote. "And yes, it’s MY ballot.”

When Smith pointed out it actually wasn't about her taxes going to TUSD because she doesn't live in the district, Wadsack's reply was typically Wadsacky:

“I pay CITY taxes, so I have say on how my taxes are spent. To tax me, but not allow me to vote is called ‘Taxation Without Representation’. You know nothing about elections, attack me like an uneducated bully, and instead of apologizing, you double down in your stupidity. #Dumb”

The exchange went on, with Smith pointing out that school bonds aren’t financed with city taxes and trying to understand how Wadsack could be voting on a TUSD bond when she doesn’t live in the district.

She's adamant it's her ballot, but ...

“That is my ballot. Full stop! So, enough already,” she fumed. “You start by accusing me of wrong doing, and then won’t accept my answer. That’s called badgering. Go investigate the Recorder. I didn’t print the ballot!”

The Arizona Mirror’s Jerod MacDonald-Evoy checked with the Pima County elections department, which confirmed Wadsack’s ballot does not include the TUSD bond question.

If that’s not Wadsack’s ballot then the senator committed a crime by publishing another person’s completed ballot.

There's a much larger problem here

Granted, that’s a ticky-tack foul, given that the identity of the real voter is not revealed in the picture. (Smith notes it's likely the ballot belongs to her husband, as he still lives in the family's old home and the envelope was addressed to somebody named Wadsack.)

The bigger issue here is that this is a state senator who votes on complex bills that impact the future of the state — one who passes multibillion-dollar budgets and makes laws for the rest of us to follow, and she doesn’t have even a basic understanding of how taxes work or who pays for what.

A senator who apparently doesn’t believe she should be questioned about what seems to be a breathtaking lack of knowledge on her part.

"You know nothing about elections," she lectured, "attack me like an uneducated bully, and instead of apologizing, you double down in your stupidity. #Dumb”

Embarrassing, isn't it?

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Tucson senator cannot be this clueless about civics. Or is she?