Pinal County Elections Commissioner Geraldine Rohl, who has been in office for a year on Tuesday morning, accused county regulators of trying to politicize election administration, citing a toxic work environment. I resigned before long.
In a scathing email to county mayor Leo Lu, Mr. Roll said he had been “ridiculed, disrespected, threatened, and attacked against my reputation and ethics.”
“I have no regrets, but I quit,” she wrote. “When you no longer respect the people you work with, it’s time to quit.”
He also accused Lu of failing to protect him from attacks by county officials and expressed concern about county leaders’ attempts to politicize the elections office.
“How to get a clean election when you give in to the Republican faction is a real challenge,” Rolle wrote. “Obviously, where politics doesn’t exist, in electoral administration, politics is the value this administration wants.”
All Pinal County supervisors are Republicans, as is county attorney Kent Volkmer, who was CC’d in Mr. Rolle’s emails.
In a statement, Mr. Lou highlighted “improvements” that Mr. Rolle “identified and began implementing at the elections office.”
“I disagree with her assessment, but she was an influential public servant. I wish her all the best and know she will continue to do great things in her career.” ” he said.
Electoral Office in Trouble
Rolle’s resignation is the latest turmoil in the beleaguered Pinal County elections office.
The problem began in July, when about 63,000 erroneous early voting sheets were sent to voters ahead of the Aug. 2 primary. And on the day of the primary, a quarter of the polling places in the county ran out of ballots.
These issues ultimately led to the dismissal of former elections director David Frisk and an external investigation into the matter, which revealed that the elections office was “chronically understaffed” and had high turnover. Pinal County struck a favorable deal with her county registrar, Virginia Ross, and asked her to become the new election director. The deal, first reported by The Republic, would give her a $175,000 salary and a $25,000 performance award in exchange for four months of service and facilitating elections in November. was to give
In late November, Ross left the county to retire, leaving Roll to pick up his work. About a month later, a discrepancy of 500 votes was discovered in the county between the certified election tally and the recount. Ross’s bonus was paid before county leadership was made aware of the counting problem. County regulators considered pursuing Ross for the money, but ultimately decided it was legally unwise to do so.
In recent months, county regulators have expressed interest in conducting trial counts of some 2022 exam ballots. Rolle had begun an internal people count to gather data to inform those conversations, but put it on hold in recent weeks.
She told county superintendents at a meeting last week that she was waiting to “develop and agree on practices with the state and other Arizona counties.”
On Tuesday, she signed an emailed resignation letter, saying, “I am very sorry, Geraldine Rolle.”
Sasha Hapka covers regional issues in Maricopa County, Pinal County, and the Republic of Arizona.Any tips for county government or county services? Contact her sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter: @SashaHupka.
