MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. — The three Republicans vying to be county recorder spent a fair amount of Monday's primary debate rehashing allegations of fraud and negligence from Maricopa County's contentious 2020 and 2022 elections.
At one point during the forum presented by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, each of the candidates were bluntly asked whether the two recent elections were stolen after Republicans lost multiple statewide races.
Don Hiatt said the elections were stolen and partly blamed Mark Zuckerburg.
County Recorder Stephen Richer, who is running for re-election, said the previous election was not stolen.
State Rep. Justin Heap said election rules were not followed and citizens have a right to be skeptical about the results.
Richer attacked Heap for not providing a definitive answer to the "stolen question" and more broadly blamed leaders who have purposefully sowed discord by not accepting the results of Arizona's recent elections.
Hiatt and Heap repeatedly accused Richer of not running a transparent office and ignoring problems raised by concerned voters.
Richer opened the debate by claiming to have cleaned up the county's voter rolls by removing over 200,000 names. But Richer's challengers questioned his claims by telling anecdotes of voters receiving multiple ballots or ballots for other people.
Richer then detailed the process of how the barcodes printed on mail-in ballots prevent a voter in Arizona from voting more than once.
Following Donald Trump's loss in 2020, election integrity quickly became a major topic in Arizona and Republican legislators spent months conducting a review of Maricopa County's ballots -- an examination that ultimately concluded that Joe Biden won.
This issue has caused some division within the Arizona Republican Party and even resulted in Richer filing a defamation lawsuit against fellow Republican Kari Lake for comments she made following her loss in the 2022 governor's race.
Election duties are split in Maricopa County between the recorder and board of supervisors. The recorder oversees mail-in, early voting and the board oversees day-of voting on Election Day.
Hiatt notably criticized mail-in voting, arguing it was an "insecure" system that was rife for manipulation.
Heap said safeguards are not being followed and called the signature verification process for mail-in ballots "inadequate."
"I do not trust the system as it is currently being operated," Heap said during Monday's debate.
Richer said his office has followed the law and has withstood the many election challenges filed over the last four years.
UP TO SPEED
