County working to prevent ballot woes
Officials taking steps to restructure system, improve technology
In fewer than nine months, Maricopa County voters will cast ballots in the March presidential preference election. That election will kick off the highly anticipated 2020 election cycle in Arizona, which could have local, state and national implications.
Maricopa County has encountered major voting issues the past few big election years. The Board of Supervisors is looking to get ahead of potential problems in 2020 by restructuring the county’s entire election system and dedicating millions of dollars for new ballotcounting technology.
“The 2020 election could come down to Maricopa County. We know that,” Chairman Bill Gates said. “We want these elections to be best in class.”
The board assembled professionals from a multitude of county departments earlier this year and tasked the group with solving the issues that have plagued Maricopa County’s elections.
On June 26, the board voted unanimously to adopt the group’s recommendations.
Gates said that the improvements to the election process will prevent major issues such as those that occurred in 2016 and 2018 and will speed up vote counting and relieve concerns about the integrity of elections.
During the 2018 August primary — current Recorder Adrian Fontes’ first major election — 62 polling places around the county were not set up and ready to accept voters when polls were supposed to open. The early-morning woes gave way to a multitude of other issues that should have been quick fixes but lingered throughout the day.
The November general election had far fewer logistical issues, but criticism of Fontes continued. Republicanbacked groups challenged the legality of new procedures he implemented and accused him of rigging the system for Democrats.
In 2016, former County Recorder Helen Purcell’s office drastically reduced the number of polling places during the presidential preference election, resulting in hours-long lines that caused some people to walk away from the polls without casting a ballot.
Voters ousted Purcell that year. Perhaps the biggest change approved last week pertains to the Board of Supervisors’ role in elections.
Arizona state law divides election responsibilities between the elected recorder and the elected Board of Supervisors in each county.
The recorders are responsible for voter registration, vote-by-mail and other pre-Election Day tasks. The supervisors, however, are responsible for Election Day activities, including establishing and staffing polling places.
Since the 1950s, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has maintained an agreement with the Maricopa County recorder, handing over its responsibilities and essentially giving the recorder full control over elections.
Three other Arizona counties operate like Maricopa County, with the Elections Department reporting directly to the county recorder. The elections departments in the other 11 counties either report to the county manager or to the board of supervisors.
Gates said that when the board relinquished its responsibilities to the recorder in the 1950s, the county had a population of 330,000. Today, the population is about 4.5 million.
Gates said it is no longer reasonable to place all of the responsibility of elections under a single elected official.
The board voted June 25 to create a new position — Election Day & Emergency Voting Director. That person will work with the County Recorder’s Office but report directly to the board.
Supervisor Steve Gallardo, who previously worked for Maricopa County’s Elections Department, said he does not see the board’s action as taking away power from Fontes but rather “strengthening our partnership.”
Gallardo said the increased involvement will allow the board — which sets the budget for the Recorder’s Office — to see firsthand the needs of the department and ensure Fontes has the equipment and personnel to conduct “worldclass” elections.
“It’s all hands on deck,” Gallardo said. In a statement, Fontes said he was encouraged by the board’s decisions and said the “partnership will make elections stronger.”
“The voters want us to work together to give them the best elections possible,” he said.
The board also approved $6.1 million for the Recorder’s Office to lease a new ballot tabulation system.
The county’s current tabulation system was purchased in the 1990s and can process no more than 75,000 ballots a day, which has led to long lag times on election results.
Because the counting machines are expensive and the technology changes every year, the board opted to lease the equipment rather than invest in a new system that soon could be outdated.
Gates said he expects the public will see faster results because of the new system.
The board also approved 26 new positions for the Elections Department, which Fontes has said many times is understaffed.
Fontes is a Democrat — the first Democrat to run the Recorder’s Office in decades.
The Board of Supervisors is predominantly Republican. Gallardo is the only Democrat.
When the board assembled the elections group earlier this year, some Democrats worried that it was a power-grab because of Fontes’ party affiliation.
Gates and Gallardo denied this last week.
“We have had issues in 2016 with a Republican recorder, in 2018 with a Democrat recorder. This isn’t about placing blame on people, but it’s about recognizing that we need to step up,” Gates said.
Gallardo said he expects most people will appreciate that election oversight is now bipartisan — with him and Fontes representing the Democrats and the other supervisors representing Republicans.
“To say this was a move because of party affiliation could not be farther from the truth,” Gallardo said.
Gates said election integrity is top of mind across the country.