Maricopa County Republican Party leader resigns after losses, questions about vote-counting machines/2020 Arizona voters/OLIVIER TOURON/AFP via Getty Images
Dem chair sees tug-of-war during results certification
By Arren Kimbel-Sannit | Arizona Capitol Times
Rae Chornenky – the former Maricopa County Republican chair whose resignation capped off an election season full of intra-party conflict – admits she probably should have seen it all coming.
“Now that I stand back here and look, this has been building my whole term,” she told the Arizona Capitol Times in an interview about the fracas that led to her abrupt departure as party chair.
Chornenky resigned on November 11, shortly followed by her executive director, Van DiCarlo. Ironically, she ended her term feeling pretty good, as Republicans held onto to their majority in the Legislature and toppled the Democratic Maricopa County recorder, deflating Democratic expectations for a resounding success in local races.
The proximate cause for Chornenky’s abrupt departure was her absence at an October 6 test of county vote tabulation machines, a process that county party chairs observe and certify. Steven Slugocki, chair of the Maricopa County Democratic Party, pointed out the lack of Republicans present at the time on Twitter, but his observation didn’t prove relevant until a month later, when Sen.-elect Kelly Townsend, who sought to tie claims of election fraud to Dominion Voting Systems, the firm that the county contracts with, called for Chornenky to resign.
