Maricopa County recorder candidates didn’t debate, but they stated their cases in recent interviews

PHOENIX – There was no head-to-head debate in the Maricopa County recorder race, but the two candidates stated their cases in recent radio interviews.

Democratic nominee Tim Stringham is a political newcomer. Justin Heap, who knocked off incumbent Stephen Richer in the Republican primary, is wrapping up his first term in the Arizona House of Representatives.

Heap didn’t accept an invitation to appear in last month’s debate sponsored by the Arizona Clean Elections Commission, the state’s nonprofit voter education agency. As is the policy in such cases, Stringham had the spotlight to himself in a 30-minute Clean Elections interview.

Each candidate, however, recently discussed the Maricopa County recorder race with KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show.

What the candidates in the Maricopa County recorder race said

Heap played up his experience as a lawmaker in a Friday interview.

“I am the most qualified person who has run for this office in the last decade. Our previous two recorders had never held office; they had nothing to do with elections prior to running,” he said. “In my case, I currently serve in the Legislature. I am on the House elections committee. So, I’ve been working on Arizona’s election law and trying to figure out ways to streamline and secure our process for two years.”

Stringham, a military veteran and attorney, said he’s been working to learn everything he can about the office, including touring the facilities involved in printing, processing and tabulating ballots for Maricopa County elections.

“We’ve been trying to talk to elections officials, trying to talk to poll workers, trying to talk to independent election attorneys and learn as much as we can, and that’s what we’re going to keep doing on day one,” he said in a Tuesday interview. “We’ll have to get to know the personnel in the office, hear from them and find out what they think are the strengths and weaknesses of the office and make sure things are running as efficiently as possible.”

What does the Maricopa County recorder do?

The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office is responsible for recording documents, the mail voting process and maintaining voter registration rolls.

The candidates in the Maricopa County recorder race have differing views on how well the current regime has performed.

“I think Maricopa County has done a really fantastic job of screening the voter rolls despite the fact we’re one of the fastest growing counties in the country,” Stringham said. “The number of voters on our rolls has actually gone down significantly.”

Heap, however, believes there is a “crisis of confidence” among voters that should be addressed with more transparency.

“We can do a huge amount to change policy in the office just to strengthen our chain of custody and make sure that we are tracking ballots as they move,” he said.

Registered Maricopa County voters currently can sign up online to receive email or text message status alerts letting them know when their ballots are prepared, mailed, received, verified and counted.

What do polls say about Maricopa County recorder race?

Phoenix-based Noble Predictive Insights conducted polling about the Maricopa County recorder race in August, about two weeks after the primaries.

The findings showed Stringham holding a 38%-34% lead over Heap, with 22% undecided and 6% abstaining.

The Democrat had a significant edge of 35%-20% among independents, a key voting bloc in Arizona.

Early voting for the Nov. 5 general election in Arizona starts Oct. 9. The deadline to register is Oct. 7.

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