by Staff Reporter | May 15, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A top staffer for Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, is backing Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican.
Fontes’ state elections director Lisa Marra praised Richer for his performance the past four years and encouraged people to vote for him.
“Maricopa County voters, including myself, are lucky to have Recorder Richer,” said Marra. “He’s responsible for so much more than just voter rolls. We need people like him in public office.”
Richer has faced widespread criticisms from within his own party over voter grievances with his view of the 2020 election’s validity and his administration of the 2022 election.
Aggrieved voters have made themselves a regular presence at the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meetings. In September, voters made headlines for accusing the board and Richer of “deep state” affiliations.
Earlier this year, AZ Free News reported that he used his staff to compile news of his personal defamation lawsuit against Senate candidate and former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
Part of the grievance with Richer had to do with the political action committee he established to beat GOP candidates supportive of the claim that the 2020 election was stolen. The PAC — Pro-Democracy Republicans of Arizona — was seen as an overt attempt to influence elections, and prompted lawmakers to introduce legislation to ban similar PAC building.
Richer’s PAC has raised over $88,500 since its inception in 2021 and spent about $83,000. In the summer of 2022, the PAC gave $45,000 to Defending Arizona Values, and $10,000 to Awareness Analytics.
Since last year, Richer’s PAC has paid him just over $8,000 for operating expenses, or just about $14,600 since the PAC’s inception.
Ahead of the 2022 election, Richer also advised the Department of Homeland Security on tactics to moderate free speech. A controversial right-wing outlet, the Gateway Pundit, successfully sued Maricopa County over its denial of press passes under Richer.
Marra apparently may relate: she faced similar revile as Richer during her stint as Cochise County Elections Director, a role she quit early last year.
Marra testified before the House Oversight and Reform Committee that she had received threats during her tenure over elections administration, a claim later discovered to not have any backing according to the Cochise County Attorney’s Office.
It was Marra who resisted the county’s efforts to conduct an expanded hand count audit during the 2022 election, citing since-scrutinized legal advice from the county attorney’s office.
That same attorney, Brian McIntyre, remains under investigation by the State Bar for violating the county supervisors’ attorney-client privilege by allegedly colluding with Attorney General Kris Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.
McIntyre announced last month that he wouldn’t run for county attorney again, citing his inability to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.
For her troubles while working in Cochise County, Marra received a settlement of $130,000 due to an alleged toxic work environment.
Richer’s primary opponent, State Rep. Justin Heap, has capitalized on the public discontent with Richer to advance his campaign.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Feb 3, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Election integrity measures haven’t been a source of unity for all Arizona Republicans over the past two years, but one bill just introduced by a state senator may have brought the party somewhat closer together on one aspect of reform.
The one-page bill, SB 1471, was recently introduced by Senator John Kavanagh, dealing with ballot tabulation and hand count comparison. According to the legislation, which would only apply to Arizona counties with a population of more than two million persons, “the officer in charge of elections in (these counties) shall randomly select four election precincts in the county from the ballot test decks used for logic and accuracy testing for the 2022 general election and shall recount all races using one hundred of those ballots from each precinct.” There would be a hand count of these ballots that would coincide with the machine count.
The legislation requires a county recorder to “compare the tabulator total and the hand count,” and take additional steps to recheck the counts should there be a “difference in the totals that is greater than one-tenth of one percent.” The county recorder would then “estimate how many persons working sixteen hours a day would be required to hand county the entire number of ballots cast in the November 2022 election.” After the conclusion of this process, the county recorder would transmit the report to the governor, president of the Arizona Senate, and the speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer released a statement this week that appeared to be in support of the legislation, saying, “Smart legislation is key to improving Arizona’s elections and voters’ trust. …This legislation will build confidence in our election system by showing that machine tabulation is highly accurate, free of bias and fast. Thanks to Senator Kavanagh for this good idea.”
It remains to be seen if Republicans at the Legislature will be appreciative of Recorder Richer’s statement on SB 1471. Maricopa County officials and members of the Arizona Legislature have not always seen eye-to-eye over election integrity since the 2020 presidential contest, and there are often competing interests or motivations even in a perceived daylight of agreement between two opposing factions. Some legislative Republicans may see this bill as an opportunity to validate hand counts, while other Republicans may view this legislation as an endorsement of machine counting.
This bill has not been assigned to a committee, nor does it have any cosponsors at the time of publication.
Should this legislation pass the Arizona Senate and House, it remains to be seen whether it would be signed into law by Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs, who has promised to use her veto stamp on bills she believes are partisan in nature.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Oct 23, 2022 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
Every voter should be required to provide identification before casting a ballot. It’s the bedrock of secure elections and ensures it is both easy to vote and hard to cheat. But in Arizona, some in-person voters can present two non-photo documents in place of a photo ID, and for the millions of Arizonans who choose the convenience of voting by mail, only a signature is required.
The fact is we currently treat different types of voters disparately—not all voters are showing ID. That’s why Prop 309 is critical. It creates universal voter ID requirements so that valid ID is required no matter when, where, or how we vote, meaning all voters will be treated equally and all will show ID. Plus, Prop 309 waives the fee for a state issued photo ID.
If that sounds like a no-brainer, that’s because it is.
But recently, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer waged a political campaign against Prop 309, illegally using his office and taxpayer resources to misinform voters and influence the outcome of the election…
>>> CONTINUE READING >>>
by Staff Reporter | Feb 19, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The Arizona Republican Party is picking sides in the ongoing spat between the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and County Recorder Justin Heap.
The party’s new chair, Sergio Arellano, issued a press release on Tuesday commending Supervisor Mark Stewart for speaking out against the rest of the board for their posturing to oust Heap from office.
“I appreciate those Republicans who are able to ignore the rancor being generated by those outside the process, and who are willing to listen to the voices of those of us who want a solution that unites Republicans behind the proposition that Arizona voters deserve a process that respects their choices, and that the power of the people, exercised through their vote, prevails and is honored,” said Arellano.
Arellano advised voters to focus on the merits of policy over the noise of personal conflicts in the matter; the chair agreed with Stewart that Heap should have full restoration of elections administration duties under the Shared Services Agreement (SSA).
“Ignore the fake news and those who are intent on whipping up hysteria to further their own personal ambition, but we as a Party must deliver on real and effective reform and restore full faith in our elections,” said Arellano. “Recorder Heap must be allowed to do his job and then he must do it properly. The same goes for our County Supervisors. I am grateful to Supervisor Stewart for seeking a path that accomplishes all of this and encourage everyone involved to follow his lead and reach an agreement of which we might all be proud.”
The board ordered Heap to appear on Wednesday to provide a report and testify on his administration and allegations of voter disenfranchisement made by his office.
It is the latest escalation in the public spat between the two over who has primary control over elections via the SSA. The current SSA, all but gutting the recorder’s office of elections duties, was put in place by a “lame duck” recorder, Stephen Richer, and board majority in their final months in office. After Heap failed to convince the board to reverse course on that SSA, Heap sued last summer.
Supervisor Stewart announced on Monday that he sought outside legal counsel to negotiate with Heap over the SSA, since the board and recorder’s office appear to have hit a stalemate.
Stewart retained counsel after failing to receive a response to his request to postpone Wednesday’s meeting from Chair Kate Brophy McGee. The supervisor said all members of the board ought to have additional time to consult with counsel about negotiations with Heap.
“My counsel requires additional time to fully evaluate the issues raised, assess the scope and legal basis for the required direct report, and advise me accordingly. Proceeding before that review is complete would not allow me to participate in the discussion or any potential vote with the preparation and confidence that such a consequential action demands,” said Stewart. “Out of respect for the institution, the Recorder’s Office, and most importantly, the residents we serve, I believe it is prudent to delay consideration of this item until all members of the Board have had sufficient opportunity to consult with counsel and fully assess the implications.”
Stewart also denounced the possibility of Heap’s removal should he refuse to show on Wednesday.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Feb 13, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Maricopa County’s former recorder, Stephen Richer, says Republican’s concerns over illegal alien voting are “bogus.”
The former elections leader for one of the nation’s biggest counties published that claim earlier this week in an opinion piece for The New York Times.
“Confirmed: non-citizens aren’t voting,” said Richer.
Richer cited state investigations into noncitizen voting in which voter rolls were cross-checked with citizenship status. The recorder said concerns over illegal alien voters were a myth jeopardizing democracy.
“People largely aren’t willing to risk their status in the United States — the land of economic opportunity — for the ability to cast one more vote out of hundreds of thousands or millions in a state and hundreds of millions in the country,” stated Richer. “Playing politics with the idea of fraudulent voters and stolen elections comes at a real cost to American confidence in our elections. It’s an affront to our democracy and to all those who work to deliver free and fair elections. It’s also an ominous sign for where things may be heading this year.”
However, the cross-check referenced by Richer doesn’t address the common practice of identity theft among illegal aliens. Voter rolls can only confirm the citizenship of the individual listed, not of an individual who may be usurping that identity.
According to some federal estimates, 75 percent of illegal aliens are using stolen identities. There’s about 11.5 million illegal aliens in the country per the latest federal estimate, which would mean over 8.6 million illegal aliens use stolen identities under those estimates. Around 7 million of those illegal aliens claim employment per the government.
Of the smaller number of illegal aliens whose employment is recorded on the books, the government’s low estimate for illegal alien identity theft totals over one million.
With that range of estimates, there may be anywhere from 20,000 to 170,000 illegal aliens living under stolen identities in each state, assuming equal population distribution.
A day after The New York Times published Richer’s opinion piece, the Department of Justice announced the case of another illegal alien convicted of voter fraud.
An illegal alien from Columbia voted in the 2024 presidential election under a stolen identity, which she’d been using for over 20 years. Lina Maria Orovio-Hernandez, 59, had obtained a Real ID and received over $400,000 in stolen federal benefits.
Those stolen benefits included over $250,000 in Housing and Urban Development rental assistance. Orovio-Hernandez also obtained eight other state IDs in addition to the Real ID she obtained in Massachusetts.
Since leaving the recorder’s office, Richer has taken up elections-related leadership positions that advance claims similar to the ones he made in his most recent opinion piece, to include senior practice fellow in American democracy with the Harvard Kennedy School and adjunct scholar with the Cato Institute.
Richer pulled away from the Republican Party during the 2024 election when he announced his intent to vote for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Other illegal aliens have voted in elections without the use of identity theft.
Last month, an illegal alien pleaded guilty to voting in the 2020 election.
Last December, two illegal aliens were indicted for voting in the November 2020 general election.
Last November, an illegal alien from Mexico elected to be the local mayor was charged for having voted illegally numerous times over his decades spent in the U.S.
Last August, a Canadian citizen voted in two federal elections, once in 2022 and in 2024.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
