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Richer: We aim to inspire confidence in elections

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It was my great honor that voters in November elected me to serve as the 30th Maricopa County Recorder.

My vision for the office has been consistent: take the politics out of decision-making and focus on competently serving county residents.

A growing public distrust following the Nov. 3 General Election has prompted me to take on a mission to “inspire confidence.”

Inspire confidence in our public documents; inspire confidence in our voter registration database; inspire confidence in our elections; and, hopefully, be part of a broader movement to inspire confidence in our public institutions.

To this end, since taking office just three weeks ago, I’ve worked with my partners in election administration, the Board of Supervisors, to design a forensic audit of the election tabulation equipment and software. The board has statutory authority over the tabulation equipment, and it is therefore ultimately the board’s decision on whether or not to proceed.

But I fully support the audit as designed; I applaud the board’s decision to hold a vote, and I will direct the Recorder’s Office to assist with the audit where possible.

Such an audit is not required by law. Additionally, no significant problems have been identified by the numerous lawsuits filed and already-performed audits. In fact, the hand count audit of approximately 47,000 votes yielded a 100% match with the machine-tabulated results.

Nonetheless, I believe the board’s audit is needed to build confidence in the election process and to further improve election administration in our county, which is the second largest voting jurisdiction in the United States.

May this be the first step of many over the next four years to inspire confidence in the elections process. The Board of Supervisors joins me in this goal, and we all look forward to serving this county.

Stephen Richer was elected Maricopa County Recorder in the November election.