News Flash Home
The original item was published from 4/8/2022 4:14:25 PM to 4/8/2022 4:17:23 PM.

News Flash

Office of Communications

Posted on: April 8, 2022

[ARCHIVED] JOINT STATEMENT FROM CHAIRMAN BILL GATES AND RECORDER STEPHEN RICHER

301 Admin Building

The Attorney General's interim report about the 2020 election in Maricopa County includes no new evidence, nothing that would have changed the results, and nothing that should lead people to question the overall health of our electoral system.

We've spent nearly eight months cooperating with the AG's office. Our election professionals have worked day and night to gather the information responsive to both Mr. Brnovich’s civil and criminal inquiries, all while running two safe, secure, and accurate jurisdictional elections during that time period.  

The Elections Department provided the Attorney General’s Office a list of over 40 staff members that supported signature verification. Yet, the calculation in the AG's letter is based on one staff member working signature verification alone.  You can read the document outlining what we provided to investigators here.  We have been just as detailed in other responses. 

The bottom line: the AG has not identified even a single instance where a ballot was accepted with a non-matching signature (or signature that was later cured).

The Maricopa County Elections Department ensures ballots are tracked and security is upheld. Our records confirm that tamper evident seals were secured on every drop box. We can account for every ballot that was delivered to the Elections Department, whether it was returned in a drop box, voted in person early, mailed back to us, or voted on Election Day.   

Unfortunately, the Attorney General made no mention of the many areas of the election process that his investigators reviewed and found satisfactory, including the preservation of election files and the absence of internet connectivity.

Maricopa County election workers followed the laws as they were written in 2020.  If the AG wants different laws, he's welcome to advocate for them.

Facebook Twitter Email

Other News in Office of Communications

Capitol

Board Appoints LD-26 Senator

Posted on: May 8, 2023
Capitol

Board Appoints LD-13 Legislator

Posted on: May 5, 2023
Maricopa-County-Feature

Printer Investigation Complete

Posted on: April 10, 2023
News Room Featured Image

Board Begins County Manager Recruitment

Posted on: January 26, 2023
Homepage-Tile-Elections

Voter Registration Deadline is Tuesday

Posted on: October 10, 2022
flag

Board Appoints New District 19 Legislator

Posted on: September 28, 2022
Rio Verde Water

Rio Verde Foothills Water Statement

Posted on: September 6, 2022