As state lawmakers continue to debate several election reform bills, the director of Cochise County’s election department is coming under scrutiny for a series of tweets alleging that local elected officials are threatening the integrity of elections “from within.”
Lisa Marra was appointed by the Cochise County Board of Supervisors as its election director in 2017. As such, she is a county employee. Marra also serves as president of the Election Officials of Arizona.
Last Saturday, Marra took to Twitter to express disappointment that some elected officials in Cochise County support a possible Senate-led review of the county’s election processes.
“Most counties in America are attacked by conspiracy theorists from the outside. In our amazing border county that threat to election integrity comes from within…By elected officials who continue to support the claim the election was stolen,” she tweeted.
Another Marra tweet read in part “Let me be perfectly clear. The election official in Cochise County, Arizona does not support a ‘test’ audit. Nor was I asked about it or consulted about the process.” She added that such “false disinformation” is harmful, as well as “an insult to me…and more importantly our voters.”
Marra did not respond to Arizona Daily Independent’s request for comment on Tuesday. However, her social media commentary came as a surprise to one of Arizona’s election experts.
Ken Bennett is the former Arizona Secretary of State and former Senate President who served last year as the liaison for the Senate’s audit of how Maricopa County conducted the 2020 General Election. He believes the fact Cochise County has a good reputation in the state for how its elections are conducted is why it is a perfect choice for a review.
“Every election official in the state knows Ms. Marra’s standing as a competent election director,” Bennett said. “Looking at Cochise County makes a lot of sense and no one there should be offended by the choice. Being able to communicate the reliability and integrity by which elections are conducted there should be welcomed by all.”
According to Bennett, there is a lot to be learned by reviewing a smaller county.
For instance, Maricopa County utilized a Dominion Voting System and had in-person voters use paper ballots which required the selection of candidates to be done by pen. However, 13 of the other 14 counties used an ES&S voting system and Yavapai County uses one from Unisyn.
And many counties -including Cochise- are set up for in-person voting to be done on a touch screen monitor which prints out a receipt-style paper ballot for tabulation. There is also a major difference in the shear volume of ballots cast: there was about 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa County, while less than 61,000 ballots were received in Cochise County.
“We need to release more election data at the county level to allow for verification by voters,” he said. “The objective for every election official in every county should be for more transparency, to be a voice of assurance.”
Bennett also made it very clear that any review of a county’s election process is about ensuring best practices moving forward and “has absolutely nothing” to do with Donald Trump.
“This review will reaffirm what is being done right, whether in Cochise County or another county,” he stressed. “And it will help voters and election officials understand what can be implemented to make Arizona’s elections even better.”
Supervisor Tom Crosby is one of the Cochise County elected officials who welcomes the Senate’s interest in reviewing the county’s election processes. He is aware of Marra’s social media activity but believes it inappropriate for him to comment at this time.
“Let’s wait six months and see if it’s still an issue,” he said.
Meanwhile, Arizona Daily Independent has confirmed that Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre has been consulted about the proposed review. He declined to comment about the matter.
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