Much attention has been focused on Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, whose office saw a sharp increase in the number of 2022 Primary Election early ballots rejected during the voter signature verification process compared to his predecessor, Adrian Fontes
That data is available to the public as part of Maricopa County Canvass report for each election. But many of Arizona’s 14 other counties do not include an early ballot rejection report as part of the county’s official canvass.
Having that level of data enables voters to compare the results of a specific county’s signature verification process from election to election, which might be brought about by a change in policy. Which could explain why several Maricopa County early ballot voters have commented on having their signatures questioned despite being longtime early voters.
I find it interesting and disturbing I was contacted by election officials saying my ballot signature did not match what’s on file. I’ve never had an issue in the 35 years I’ve been voting. I gave them all my info and they still didn’t believe me. What’s going on Arizona?
— Alex McBurney III (@AlexMcBurneyIII) November 5, 2022
But making early ballot rejection data more readily available also allows for a county to county comparison. This could show whether voters in some counties are having their ballots rejected disproportionately to other counties.
It is an issue highlighted by the last three completed elections in Maricopa County. As reported by Arizona Daily Independent shortly after the August 2022 primary, there was a significant increase in the number of ballots rejected with Richer at the helm of the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office than in the prior to elections.
AUGUST 2022 PRIMARY (Richer)
763,741 early ballots received on time
3,364 rejected for bad signature
1,137 rejected for no signature
NOVEMBER 2020 GENERAL (Fontes)
1,917,529 early ballots received on time
587 rejected for bad signature
1,455 rejected for no signature
MARCH 2020 PRIMARY (Fontes)
811,327 early ballots received on time
323 rejected for bad signature
2,483 rejected for no signature
There were some claims after the 2020 General Election that Fontes allowed his staff to deviate downward from the usual standards of signature verification, or what was described in one election challenge as a “relaxing” of the required comparison to the voters’ signatures.
Former Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett previously reviewed the Maricopa County early ballot rejection data which showed the much higher rate of rejection under Richer’s tenure as recorder.
Bennett noted a variety of reasons could be at play for the difference, including better training and a more diligent staff. He also believed the 2022 Primary Election data seemed to back up the reports in 2020 of Fontes’ staff not conducting sufficient signature verification.
“They were getting behind in the Recorder’s Office [in 2020] and several people said the standard was relaxed to nearly nothing. These new canvass numbers seem to back that up,” Bennett said.
Although the process Fontes put into place for the 2020 General Election was never fully explained, the rejection data included in the county’s canvass report clearly shows fewer signature rejections on 1.9 million early ballots in that election than a few months earlier when only 811,000 early ballots were cast in the primary election.