Maricopa County regulators Wednesday unanimously reappointed election chief Scott Jarrett and appointed him a new boss.
“He’s come forward in the most difficult times, when people don’t want to talk about the facts and are pushing conspiracies and unsubstantiated claims,” said director Steve Gallardo. “I think he’s done a great job. He’s done it over and over again.”
Jarrett, who has been in charge of polling and counting votes on Election Day since 2019, will now report to County Superintendent Jen Pokorsky rather than the Board of Supervisors.
The reorganization will reduce Jarrett’s manager from five to one, creating more space between him and the overseers who oversee the campaign, along with registrar Stephen Richer.
But director Bill Gates said he and his colleagues would not “walk out of the race” and blamed the commission for printer troubles at many polling places in the county last year. .
Instead, Gates and others framed the move as a matter of efficiency.
“There’s a lot of logistics involved,” Gates said. “We need resources from counties that aren’t really involved in the election.”
Wednesday’s vote could leave Jarrett alone if a new overseer takes power in 2025. All seats on the board will be reelected next year. Gates has said he will not run for re-election, but it is widely expected that several supervisors will run again in the sure-fire primary and general elections.
Superintendent Jack Sellers, who has already submitted a letter of intent to run for re-election in the Valley Southeast constituency, said, “Even if it’s just from a cosmetic standpoint, elected officials have direct control over the election. I’ve felt for years that I shouldn’t have subordinates,” he said. . “And this gets us to that point.”
Although Mr. Pokorsky is acting at the discretion of the board, supervisors cannot directly hire or fire other county employees.
So if a future board wants to fire a department head under Ms Pokorsky’s jurisdiction, such as Jarrett, she will have to agree to fire him. Otherwise, as Pinal County Election Commissioner Geraldine Rohr sent a scathing email to Pinal County Manager Leo Lu on Tuesday, unless Jarrett resigns out of frustration with the leaders. , the Board would need to remove Mr. Jarrett.
“Scott Jarrett is in a very tough and visible position,” said chairman Clint Hickman. “Now, he had five separate, equal bosses, all of whom were willing to be informed, to provide guidance and advice on their own initiative, which further complicates the situation. We are all: Through all these elections, we’ve kept an open mind that this is tough…this is our ability to tell the people who work for this county that we stand with you. .”
Sasha Hapka covers regional issues in Maricopa County, Pinal County, and the Republic of Arizona.Do you have any tips to share regarding her election or voting? sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter: @SashaHupka.
