TOver the summer, Stephen Richer, county recorder of Maricopa County, Arizona, ran for re-election as an unabashedly pro-Democratic Republican. It was a bold stance in Maricopa, where baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud were rife in the 2020 and 2022 elections. Richer has spent the past four years protecting the integrity of county election officials and devising new ways to let residents see for themselves how their votes are counted. “If there’s one thing that was most important in my four years, it was increasing the flow of information,” Richer says.

These efforts led to Mr. Richer’s condemnation and death threats from Republicans. lynch. At City Hall, Richer was booed simply for asserting that the 2020 election was not stolen. “I thought that was the only ethically responsible thing to do,” he says. “And I would love to do it again.”

In July, Richer lost the Republican primary to a far-right challenger who cast doubt on recent election results. Richer will step down in January after overseeing the 2024 election in the high-profile battleground state. Still, Richer told TIME he wouldn’t change anything. “If you polled a ‘democracy advocate’ in a closed Republican primary in Maricopa County right now, I would say that person would be a loser,” he says. “I went through some pretty low times myself, but it meant a lot to me.”

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

TIME: You’re in a somewhat unique position as a Republican to be a vocal defender of the integrity of the electoral process when that’s not the party’s general policy.

Richie: That’s important. If you’re a Democrat, I’m not saying it’s not important or that it doesn’t take courage. But the politics are quite different. If you’re a Democratic secretary of state, it’s in your political interest to oppose a lot of these things. So it’s a completely different dynamic in terms of sacrifice.

TIME: Given everything that happened in 2020 and all the efforts to increase confidence in the electoral system in the four years since, voters will have even more confidence in the electoral process in 2024. Do you think it will, or do you think trust has only been further eroded?

Richer: I think that’s interesting because polls show that confidence hasn’t changed significantly since 2021. What we can say with certainty is that we have far more access to information than we did in 2020 because of the impact of COVID-19 and the election community’s response to this and recognition that this is extremely important. There is no place with more resources available if you want to learn about election administration. Even if you don’t want to learn about election administration, some of it may be useful.

That being said, I still have questions about Dominion [Voting Systems] You never know how much information you can put out each day…so it’s not just a matter of, “Oh, I need more information.” That means keeping it as simple as possible.

And the other thing is, while President Trump was speaking in 2020, the other side was shooting from the hip and building this infrastructure. There are now organizations and individuals who make this their raison d’être, and they are well prepared to sow doubt in the process. They are looking for opportunities. they create opportunities. In other words, armed groups on both sides are escalating.

TIME: In your role, what steps have you taken to help people see for themselves how the electoral process works to combat these conspiracy theories? Please tell us more about your commitment to transparency.

Richer: This has been the focus of my work for four years. We have spent thousands of hours and millions of dollars to this end. We have conducted more than 300 tours of election facilities with community members and others who want to see the machines, people, and processes that govern Maricopa County elections. We’ve done a lot of tele-town halls where you can ask any questions you want. We conducted a live video stream tour of election facilities. We’ve made videos, written articles, and written reports. I have been interviewed countless times on TV and radio. We’ve spent millions of dollars in advertising budgets explaining how the process works. We’ve expanded the number of vote tracking features, the ability to access your personal voter dashboard online and view all your personal voter statistics, and more.

Just two weeks ago we put out A visual representation of the counting process using Coke cans, and the ability to click on the election feature and click on all the different tags on the different machines. This is similar to deciding whether to buy a cola. house. You can visit our website [and] Click to view the entire election feature. Also, every piece of equipment has a small tag that you can click to see more details. I mean, I don’t know of any election jurisdiction in this country that does more. We are increasing the number of 24/7 live video cameras to monitor the process, increasing opportunities for partisan surveillance, and increasing the number of special elections. We have partisan workers in the process so that anyone who wants to participate can do so.

So when someone said to me recently, “Look, you’re not invisible,” I laughed. Well, the election community feels otherwise. It wasn’t intentional, but if there’s one thing that was most important in my four years, it was increasing the flow of information.

Time: So people wanted transparency and you gave them transparency. What do you mean you still lost?

Richer: Well, elections are always a combination of many things. But I think this obviously means that I haven’t been able to convince everyone that this is a process worth believing in in the first place. Second, there are many people who don’t believe what they think, even if they don’t have strong feelings about the electoral system. That’s not true. So to speak, you appear to be siding with the opposition and pushing back against our people. Why clash with our people? Why are you at odds with Kali Lake? Why run against Donald Trump? It’s a kind of rivalry that I don’t know if it could have been avoided, but it was anathema to a lot of people in the Republican primary.

And finally, I think this is a tribal tattoo for many people. And if you don’t care about facts and don’t believe the 2020 election was stolen, you’re not part of our gang. There’s an industry that exists today, and for that industry I was probably public enemy number one. Having a national profile, being known for being well-informed, all of that is good for the election community and good for certain circles, but the private Arizona Republican primary Probably harmful in elections.

If the polls in Maricopa County were to pick a “Democratic Defender” in the closed Republican primary right now, I think that would be the loser.

TIME: Do you regret putting yourself out there like that and running for re-election, knowing how entrenched these attitudes are among Republicans?

Richer: I was at an event with about 400 Republicans, and the last question they asked me, which was probably a randomly chosen question, was about the 2020 election. The question was whether it had been stolen or not. I simply responded, “No, the 2020 election was not stolen.” It’s a documented fact. And you’re going to get booed at these events. But I thought it was the only ethically responsible thing to do. And I would like to do it again.

I mean, I can’t even begin to express how subhuman the treatment was. Because if you’re a Democrat who opposes this, the partisan side will be painted and your Democratic friends will support you. There weren’t many people around, just a lot of friends and people I thought were friends who had been quiet during this time. So what has been said and done to me over the past four years, even by people who were supposed to be my friends, has been worse than I would treat a cockroach. I myself went through a period of being quite depressed. But it was very meaningful.

I structured my life around things that I found very meaningful, and that’s exactly what it was. Well, I’m very lucky in that sense. As you know, not everyone gets the opportunity to work on something of global importance.