By Jen Fifield | Votebeat
Maricopa County’s new leadership will move immediately to commission an independent audit of the county’s election system, incoming supervisors announced at their first meeting Monday, but they promised that it will not be a repeat of the partisan, chaotic review of the county’s 2020 election results.
The announcement came as the county swore in three new Republicans on the five-member board of supervisors. Minutes after being elected chairman, returning Supervisor Thomas Galvin affirmed that supervisors would soon hire what he described as a reputable firm to do a “comprehensive review” of election procedures and recommend improvements.
The decision signals a shift in the board’s perspective on election administration, from staunchly defending the county’s practices to examining and questioning them. The newly elected supervisors campaigned on a platform of election integrity, and one of them, Mark Stewart, ran on the idea that the county’s system needed fixing. They are replacing Republican officials who became known nationally for defending the county’s elections.
The county’s new recorder, Justin Heap, defeated Recorder Stephen Richer after claiming that the county’s elections were a “laughingstock.” It’s unclear whether Heap, or his office, will be involved in the new audit, or help pay for it. Galvin said he has had no discussions with Heap about the audit, and Heap didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Audit is limited to checking processes
Galvin, a Republican, said after the meeting that the county will not reexamine the results of any past elections, or review any cast ballots. The scope of the audit will be limited to examining processes, he said.
But the county has already done such reviews of its election system — at length and at great cost — including two separate independent audits. The supervisors commissioned one in early 2021, of the county’s use of voting machines during the 2020 election. And the other, more notorious review occurred that same year after the state Senate’s Republican leadership handed all 2.1 million ballots cast in the election, and the county’s voting machines, over to Cyber Ninjas, a firm that had been working with allies of Donald Trump to try to overturn his 2020 loss. The reviews both confirmed the 2020 presidential election results showing that Joe Biden won the county.
