Votes counted, battles begin

Group: County officials are ‘incompetent’

Maricopa County officials were facing battles on multiple fronts at the top of the week as they wrapped up counting ballots.

Election officials dropped a final round of unofficial election results Monday coming off a busy weekend that saw a letter from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office requesting a formal response from the county on its Election Day printer woes.

That issue was punctuated by a leaked call between Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake’s campaign and one of Maricopa County’s top lawyers. A video released on social media by Lake’s campaign captured a portion of a phone conversation that showcased tensions between her staff and attorney Thomas Liddy, head of the county’s civil litigation office.

Other conservative figures piled onto the county. A statement from the Arizona Freedom Caucus, a multistate

“After taking an absurd and unnecessary amount of time to count ballots, we are now finding out that Maricopa County election officials may not merely be incompetent but may also be criminals.”

State Rep. Jake Hoffman, chairman of the Arizona Freedom Caucus

Republican group that lists election integrity as one of its key issues, called county officials “incompetent, alleged criminals” and said they should “resign in shame.”

“After taking an absurd and unnecessary amount of time to count ballots, we are now finding out that Maricopa County election officials may not merely be incompetent but may also be criminals,” said state Rep. Jake Hoffman, the chairman of the caucus, in a statement.

“These allegations could quite reasonably lead someone to believe that this incompetence, which has prevented us from knowing the outcomes of our elections for nearly two weeks, is simply a tool for corrupt politicians to rig elections in their favor.”

Maricopa County takes, on average, 10 to 12 days to fully tally ballots after each election. State law gives election officials until Nov. 28 to finish counting for the Nov. 8 election. The more lastminute early ballots received, the longer it can take to count votes and determine tight races, officials say. This year, the county received a record 290,000 early ballots dropped off on Election Day and fully finished counting in 13 days.

Meanwhile, as counting continued, county election officials received thousands of forms to verify signatures on early ballots, including many from people not registered to vote.

Bill Gates, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, confirmed that security concerns forced him and his family to temporarily hole up in an undisclosed location — although he made clear it was only for one night.

“I’m not in hiding. In fact, I’m sitting at MCTEC right now,” Gates told The Republic Monday morning, referring to the county’s election headquarters.

County officials said that decision was prompted by a specific threat directed at Gates on social media. Sheriff Paul Penzone declined to comment Monday on details of the threat but said his office is consistently working to ensure the security of elected officials and that he encouraged Gates and his family to temporarily vacate their home.

“I told him I thought it was in his best interest, for one reason — I’m always going to err on the side of overreacting to keep people safe,” Penzone said.

Despite all the ruckus, Gates promised in a press statement that the county Board of Supervisors will canvass, or certify, the results of the election. His statement stood in contrast to supervisors in Mohave County in western Arizona, who on Monday delayed certification to show dissatisfaction with how the election was run in the Phoenix area.

“There will be no delays or games; we will canvass in accordance with state law,” Gates said.

County ‘evaluating’ how to respond to AG letter

Gates said the county is still determining how to respond to the letter from the Attorney General’s Office.

“We’re evaluating our options,” Gates said.

The letter came from assistant attorney general Jennifer Wright, who heads the Attorney General’s Office’s Election Integrity Unit.

Democrats have long contended the unit, established in 2019, is unnecessary and was created in response to Democratic wins in 2018. Wright has a history of supporting unproven theories of election fraud.

The county’s reply is due by Nov. 28 — coincidentally, the same date that officials plan to certify election results and send them to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. Gates said the response will come before the canvass.

“Board members received this letter on Saturday night and had a team working on a response all day Sunday, even as staff continued counting votes,” he said in a statement. “We look forward to answering the AG’s questions with transparency as we have done throughout this election.”

Threats aren’t showing signs of slowing down

County officials don’t expect election-related threats to stop anytime soon.

“Unfortunately, I think it’s been pretty consistent across the county,” Gates said. “It started in 2020 and unfortunately has continued.”

Threats received by the county don’t just target Gates. Recorder Stephen Richer said he’s received a “garden variety” of vitriolic messages before and after Election Day, although he has not been forced out of his home for his own safety.

“I haven’t received anything to the extent Bill has,” Richer said. “It’s been of a similar variety to the August primary.”

Threats, he said, have become constant over the time he’s been in office. Most that he’s received relate to how fast ballots are processed and tallied.

“Most of my people have said it’s worse (now), because in 2020, it didn’t really start until (election conspiracies) started to become a thing,” Richer said.

Penzone called those who send threats “cowards.” He said threats have been cast “broad and wide” in the wake of Election Day and his office is actively investigating them, although he declined to give specific numbers.

“There’s a natural escalation because folks feel emboldened,” Penzone said. “They have people in office or running for office who are empowering them, and it needs to stop.”

He encouraged candidates and elected officials to make clear that threats against others aren’t acceptable.

“We have to take a stand against it,” he said. “That means even the people who politically maybe didn’t see the outcomes they were hoping for. Have some courage and speak out and say, ‘These types of threats aren’t OK against our opponents any more than they would be OK against us.’”