Maricopa County's new sheriff said Tuesday that election safety and security will continue to be a focus of his office heading into 2024.
Sheriff Russ Skinner said he intends to aggressively investigate threats against county election officials to ensure voting is conducted safely, and that his deputies are spread out throughout the Valley and ready to take action if necessary. He said it was done.
“We will continue our forward security operations and make sure we are visible,” he said.
His comments came at his first press conference since he was appointed chief of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office by county supervisors and as voting begins for the presidential race, the first major election of the year.
Maricopa County has faced years of voter fraud conspiracies after the 2020 and 2022 elections. Following former President Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election, his allies tried to pressure county supervisors to question the county's vote tally; Leaders continue to be targets of misinformation and intimidation, with some declining to run for re-election due to harassment.
During the 2022 election, former Sheriff Paul Penzone restricted legislators' vacation time and closely monitored ballot boxes as vigilantes videotaped and photographed voters, sometimes confronting them. . Like Skinner, Penzone sought to take a strong stance on election security as the midterm elections approach, warning election skeptics against misbehavior.
Skinner said his office is already partnering with other law enforcement agencies to pursue cases against people who have physically threatened election officials and staff.
He said he is seeing more threatening “electronic communications” than ever before in his law enforcement career and vowed to “bring perpetrators to justice” even if they are outside of Arizona. .
“We take all of these threats seriously,” Skinner said. “They shouldn't be intimidated.”
Additionally, his office has already prepared measures to ensure the security of future elections, such as securing parking spaces for election staff. Skinner said he is conducting additional training for deputies to handle election-related situations “beyond and beyond” that patrol officers would normally encounter. His office plans to reintroduce restrictions on legislators' vacations before and after election periods.
He said voters should expect law enforcement personnel and security infrastructure such as barricades to be present at county central vote-counting headquarters throughout this year's elections.
“We already have some safety measures in place, even for this small election,” Skinner said.
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Sasha Hapka covers county government and elections for The Arizona Republic.Do you have tips for her about voting and democracy? Contact her sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter). @SashaHupka. Follow her on Instagram or in the thread: @sashahupkasnaps.
