Phoenix — Within 200 days, ballots for the 2024 Presidential First Election will be mailed to Arizona voters.
If most people think it’s too early to think about next year’s elections, they would be right.
David Becker, a nationally recognized elections expert and director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, agrees. “Seventeen months after the presidential election, this should be the quietest time of the election season,” he said.
Becker, along with Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates, attended a roundtable with local journalists to discuss next year’s election. A frequent topic of discussion was who will hold the 2024 elections.
“I think in Nevada, at least 10 of the 17[counties]will have new election officials,” Becker said. “Some of them sympathize with the election denial movement.”
Gates, a conservative Republican, will not run for re-election for health reasons, but said this was largely related to stress over the past few years with election deniers.
Nevertheless, he has different views.
“We have to bring people together from different fields, which is very important,” he said. “Including those who believe in electoral denial. Luckily we have all sorts of eyes on the MCTEC (Election Warehouse), so we are monitoring it.”
The roundtable also discussed the high turnover rate of Arizona’s election officials since the 2020 election. Ten of Arizona’s 15 counties have lost their top campaign staff, according to the Office of the Secretary of State. Her two counties, Cochise and Pinal, have all hired new officials.
One of the main causes of turnover is intimidation of election officials, which Becker says is on the rise. Among other things, his organization is a mix of election administrators and pro bono lawyers, and the call for help at this June’s roundtable was top notch, he said.
“It’s not just battleground states,” he says. “This is very concerning to me because it’s not just about pushing these people out of public office, it’s making them feel vulnerable and isolated.”
Despite their concerns, they believe the system will survive.
“This is a matter of truth and lies,” Gates said during the final minutes of the roundtable.
