The tense confrontation isn’t the most angry we’ve seen in recent tumultuous Arizona politics.

But it was meaningful because it was the culmination of important events in a county that spearheaded an effort to upend the way Arizona conducts elections. Like many things, it shouldn’t have happened.

As you may know, Stevens is a former congressman and county registrar since 2016. He also aligns with the Republican majority, which consists of his two members of the Oversight Board responsible for speculative electoral policy, including:

Attempted to recount 100% hands for 2022 election despite being warned it was illegal

challenge the accreditation of the tallying machine used in the election after the election is over

Refusing to authenticate an election until after the deadline may violate state law

The pursuit of these policies prompted two supervisors, Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby, to sue Lisa Mara, the county’s then elections commissioner, in November, ultimately claiming she was “unbearable.” It forced her to resign in January, citing what she called “no” working conditions. They also sparked a recall campaign against Crosby.

With election commission vacancies open and a sales tax election scheduled for May, the county needed an election commissioner. So the two of them went ahead and appointed Stevens County Interim Election Officers in late February. This sparked another lawsuit by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office in an attempt to block Stevens’ new appointment.

It was under these new patronage as interim election director that Stevens stopped by the Hereford Post Office on Friday. It said it was responding to complaints about volunteers.

“Somebody called me with a complaint that they were collecting signatures on federal property,” Stevens told me on Monday. I did.”

“I was driving to work and I met them and I stopped and talked to them because I had already done my research,” he added. “Indicates that all properties are in the post office.”

As a recorder, Stevens has immediate access to the documents recorded on the estate. And when he met the couple, he told them they shouldn’t be on federal property.

Of course, these people weren’t just casually stationed near the post office. According to Eric Schodolski, head of the recall campaign, the recall campaign confirmed with the postmaster that they could not be on the premises of the post office, but could be on adjacent premises. That was it.

So the pair thought they had a right to be there, and weren’t too happy that officials affiliated with Crosby were trying to stop them from collecting signatures to bring Crosby back. .

“Why are you here?” the man asked Stevens.

“I’m on the Electoral Commission,” he said. “I handle campaign complaints.”

But of course, it is not the county elections official’s job to enforce federal law or policy regarding where petitions can be collected. That’s up to the federal government and its local authorities.

“It’s outside his job description,” said supervisor Ann English, the only Democrat on the three-man committee to vote against Stevens’ appointment as interim election administrator. “He’s not an investigator.”

Stevens relented for a while, but the couple stayed on the scene. Despite Stevens’ previous investigation, it turns out that the estate did not belong to the federal government, but to a limited liability company. Later in the day, Stevens contacted the company’s owner and received a letter from the owner asking him not to conduct any political activity on his property.

Suffice it to say that this is not how these are supposed to work. It looks especially bad when officials looking for reasons to banish signature collectors from properties are politically aligned with the officials they’re trying to bring back.

But Stevens doesn’t see it that way. When asked about his political affiliation with Crosby, he said: Whoever it was, I would have done it. ”

Maybe so — and Stevens is now looking to hire his permanent replacement. is part of a broader group of Republican officials seeking to overthrow the Trump and all of the Arizona conspiracy theories that have spilled over from his claims.

He is the secretary ally of former state representative and state candidate Mark Finkem, who has argued for years that the election will be rigged if the Republican Party loses. Stevens also serve on tBoard of electoral groups founded by FinchemFinchem tends to be hostile towards those who aren’t allies, while Stevens tends to be friendly.

Of course, Stevens being friendly shouldn’t serve as a reassurance that he won’t be out of line given his extensive role.

Friday’s episode was a small one, but it was a reminder of the greater danger posed to the political process when conspiratorial convincing people, such as a two-man board majority in Cochise County, control an election. It helped me to