Maricopa County Republicans want party to run its presidential preference election

Arizona Republicans may end up canceling the state's normal presidential preference election and holding their own vote as the Maricopa County Republican Committee pushes for the state party to run its own primary with in-person voting and hand counting.

Usually, state and county officials run primary elections on the taxpayer's dime on behalf of the state's recognized political parties. Those elections use paper ballots and allow voters to cast ballots in person or by mail. Results are counted by tabulators, machines that are used to tally votes. Election officials also perform a hand count audit of 2% of Election Day ballots and 1% of early ballots, as required by state law.

Craig Berland, chair of the Maricopa County Republican Committee, recently took to social media to call on state party officials to vote to abandon that model by Sept. 1.

He and other county party leaders adopted a resolution calling for a presidential nominee to be chosen “on paper ballots, in a one-day, one-vote election, hand-counted at the precinct level.” The resolution echoed election conspiracies that have repeatedly been proven false and play into unfounded fears of illegitimate elections.

"The actions taken by the MCRC are in solidarity with President Donald J. Trump, who has been persecuted, arrested and indicted for taking the very same positions," said Berland in a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday.

In a statement, Arizona Republican Party Chairman Jeff DeWit called Berland's efforts "a publicity stunt."

"Many Republicans have questioned the MCRC's rationale for wanting to allocate over ten million dollars to conduct the presidential primary independently, instead of investing that money into winning the general election," DeWit said. "While the MCRC is demanding the AZGOP to spend this money, they've not committed to even a single dollar themselves."

Still, DeWit said he would convene a meeting of the state GOP's executive committee "as soon as possible" so that county party officials could pitch the plan.

Can the Arizona Republican Party afford its own primary?

If the Maricopa County Republican Committee's idea were to be approved by the Arizona Republican Party, it would mean that state party officials would be responsible for everything from finding polling places to reporting election results.

They'd also need to foot the bill. That could be a problem for the Arizona GOP, which has been cash-strapped in recent months and has lagged on contributions compared to Arizona Democrats.

The Arizona Republican Party took in only $3 million in contributions last year — a far cry from the $10 million DeWit estimates the presidential primary would cost. Still, Berland told The Arizona Republic that he believes the idea is financially possible.

"The worker and financial requirements are drastically less than what a general election would require," Berland said. "The ballot will obviously have only one office on it, making for a very easy and fast counting process."

Certain factors could impact the total price tag. If the state party holds an election as described in the county party leaders' resolution, it would save on the cost of postage and processing early ballots.

But the resolution also calls for a hand count of ballots, even though trials have shown that hand counting is less accurate, more expensive and far slower than counting with tabulators.

Therefore, the state party would need to shell out money to pay workers to hand count results unless it could secure enough volunteers to quickly tally hundreds of thousands of ballots. In the 2016 presidential preference election, more than 370,000 Republicans cast ballots in Maricopa County.

"I believe that election integrity has become a very high priority for the vast majority of Arizona voters, and given the choice, they will happily donate their time and fortune in support of fair and transparent elections," Berland said.

Sasha Hupka covers county government and election administration for The Arizona Republic. Do you have a tip to share on elections or voting? Reach her at sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @SashaHupka. Follow her on Instagram or Threads: @sashahupkasnaps.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: County GOP: Arizona Republicans should run own presidential primary