Local Opinion: Local elections are a sacred trust we keep fair and secure

One of my duties is to serve as Pima County’s representative to the Legislative Policy Committee of the County Supervisors Association. My 14 colleagues each represent one of the other counties in Arizona. There are an almost equal number of Democrats and Republicans in our group.

As we have reviewed and discussed many of the so-called “election integrity” bills that have been introduced in the Arizona Legislature this year, we have decided, usually with a unanimous vote, to oppose them. Why? For the most part, they have been radical solutions in search of problems that simply do not exist.

Despite the false claims made by some of our state legislators and the self-interested rants that emanate from Mar-a-Lago, elections in Arizona and Pima County have been conducted fairly and securely. The divisions and resentments that linger after the 2020 election continue to distort and taint any discussion of elections in our state. The discredited and ridiculous “audit” of the two 2020 contests for president and U.S. Senate in Maricopa County backed by the Republican leadership of the Arizona Senate caused many of our citizens to mistakenly wonder if their ballots are safe and secure.

The four Republicans who serve on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, the Republican who currently serves as the Maricopa County Recorder and the Republican speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives have all sought to reassure the public that the 2020 election was conducted fairly and securely. Our state’s election results were certified by our Republican governor and attorney general, as well as our Democratic secretary of state. Nevertheless, without offering any credible evidence, certain legislators and 2022 candidates, goaded and supported by the former president, continue to propagate The Big Lie that the 2020 election for president was “stolen.”

Back on Feb. 15, the Board of Supervisors voted to move forward with a well-conceived plan developed by the Pima County Recorder and our Elections Division to make use of “vote centers” instead of precinct-based polling places for those who wish to vote in person in primary or general elections. Arizona counties are subdivisions of the state and the Legislature granted counties the authority to make use of the vote center model over 10 years ago, in a vote that only one legislator opposed at the time. The legislation was supported by the Republicans who then served as our governor and secretary of state.

Eleven counties have made use of vote centers since the Legislature gave them permission to do so. Pima County will become the twelfth this year. The Elections Division will present a list showing the number and location of vote centers to the Board of Supervisors for our review and approval in April. Every voter in Pima County can count on a vote center being close to them. As has been the case in other counties, voter identification, verification and ballot counting will be conducted fairly and securely.

Some of the outlandish rhetoric in our community about the vote center model has been consistent with the nonsensical claims made by some of our legislators and 2022 candidates about the conduct of our elections. The professionalism of both our county recorder and the staff in the Elections Division has been falsely impugned. As they have been in past years, elections in Pima County this year and in future years will be conducted with competence and care.

There have been voices of reason at the state and local level in both parties who know that the public needs and deserves reassurance that their elections have been conducted fairly and securely. There is no more sacred trust then assuring the integrity and security of our elections.

The voters of Pima County can be assured that those of us entrusted with these responsibilities approach them with the utmost seriousness.