PHOENIX — Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer is taking on Elon Musk after the owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, amplified disinformation about Arizona elections for his 200 million social media followers.
"Give us a chance, please," Richer said on this weekend's "Sunday Square Off."
"Before posting this, ask. I would love to explain some of these processes so that he could use his immense microphone to share accurate information."
Late last week, Musk asked this question in a retweet: "Arizona is refusing to remove illegals from voter rolls?" That post got 38 million views.
In response to a post declaring, "They are doing everything they can to cheat in the swing states," Musk said: "Absolutely."
Richer responded with a "Hi Elon Musk" post that concluded: "On every previous post you've made about Arizona elections (all of which have been wrong, but you've never corrected any of them), I've offered my office as a resource."
Trump ally sues Arizona counties
The X exchanges came after Trump ally Stephen Miller sued all 15 Arizona counties for allegedly failing to scrub their voter rolls of noncitizens.
At issue in Arizona is a law that's been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and, more recently, by a federal judge.
So-called "federal-only" voters can register to vote in federal elections without providing proof of citizenship.
They must attest that they are citizens; the penalty for perjury is a felony and would likely result in deportation.
There are currently about 42,000 federal-only voters, according to the Arizona Secretary of State's Office.
Arizona requires residents to provide proof of citizenship (a driver's license is acceptable) to vote in state or local elections
Phony theories about noncitizen vote
Much like the presidential nominee he supports, Musk was promoting phony theories that noncitizens vote en masse in Arizona.
There is scant evidence that noncitizens vote in large numbers.
The unsupported theories have gained a hearing in the courts, in Congress and on social media, as Republicans seek to buttress Donald Trump's false claims of rigged elections.
Trump has offered Musk a role in the Trump Administration. Back in July, Musk vowed to spend $45 million a month to elect Trump.
Trial prep in death-threat case
The consequences of spreading election disinformation can be grave.
After his "Sunday Square Off" interview, taped Friday, Richer had an appointment with prosecutors and law enforcement to discuss the upcoming trial of a man charged with making death threats against Richer.
"This was a man in San Diego who consumed some posts and some information from some of our leading lights here in Arizona regarding the election administration system, and then he decided it was appropriate to leave voice messages threatening to kill me," Richer said.
"So, if you're a leader, words matter. That's why I think someone like Elon Musk has a responsibility to dig a little bit deeper on some of these claims that will most assuredly get people animated."
Richer was defeated in his bid for re-election in July's Republican primary by State Rep. Justin Heap, a right-wing Trump supporter who has refused to say whether the 2020 and 2022 elections were fair.
Decision 2024
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