In drama-packed meeting, Pinal County officials opt for more tweaks to elections agreement

Pinal County's new blueprint of election responsibilities needs more tweaking, supervisors decided.

An agreement with Recorder Dana Lewis, who was tasked in July with overseeing the county's embattled Elections Department, was up for final approval at Wednesday's meeting. The document lays out exactly what her new duties would entail.

But supervisors chose to go back to the drawing board over a section about who will be involved with hiring a new elections director for the county.

That decision lengthens a saga that started in June, when former Elections Director Geraldine Roll resigned with a scathing email to County Manager Leo Lew, citing a toxic work environment. County leaders now need to find an experienced elections director who can help the county navigate through a presidential election.

The version of the agreement they considered Wednesday stated that Lewis would share hiring power over the county's open elections director position with Lew. Their pick for the position would need to be approved by the board, according to the document

Read: Memorandum of understanding and agreement

But that proposal faced opposition from many residents who spoke at Wednesday's meeting. They said they trusted Lewis but wanted the county's political parties also to be included in the selection process. And they wanted the supervisors to be more directly involved in the hiring, rather than Lew.

"The buck stops here," Pinal County Republican Committee Chair Belinda Rodriguez told the board.

Lewis said she supports working with all stakeholders, including county management, during the selection process.

"I believe that putting any burden on any one person ensures single points of failure," she said.

Supervisors pushed the issue to their next meeting, which is scheduled Sept. 6. Chris Keller, Pinal County's chief civil deputy attorney, said the fixes should be simple to make but shouldn't be rushed.

"I would not try to do it on the fly today, because this just too important of an item," he advised the board.

Changes come after rough 2022 election cycle, internal drama

The decision to put Lewis at the helm of the county's election operations comes after a number of mishaps throughout last year's election.

The problems began during the August primary when county officials sent out about 63,000 early ballots with errors.

After the November election, officials discovered a 500-vote undercount during a recount of two statewide races with tight margins. The undercount didn't change the results of the races but added fuel to election integrity conspiracies and heightened concerns around election administration in the county.

Then, Roll quit after less than a year in her position. Her email accused Lew of failing to protect her from attacks by county officials. She also expressed concern that county supervisors were attempting to politicize the Elections Department.

Her replacement will be asked to help Lewis write the county's election procedures from scratch and bulletproof the policies to ensure there are no problems next year. At the same time, whoever fills the role will face some residents who have lost trust in elections. Some have called for hand counting votes in the county, which saw about 140,000 voters last year.

Under current state law, Lewis said, a hand count isn't possible. She and other election officials across the state, however, are keeping a close eye on a legal battle that continues to rage over whether Cochise County can do a full hand recount of its 2022 election results.

"My job is to follow the law as it is written," Lewis said.

The Pinal County's Elections Department is also seeking an operations manager and a deputy director.

Agreement will spell out responsibilities for election functions

Under the provisions of the agreement, Lewis would be in charge of most election functions in the county.

That includes managing voter registrations and processing mail-in ballots, which the Recorder's Office already oversees. Lewis also would lead efforts to coordinate Election Day polling locations for in-person voters, manage Election Department personnel and develop elections procedures for the county. Those duties are currently under the Pinal County Board of Supervisors.

The supervisors would retain their statutory duty to canvass the election results. But the responsibility of preparing those results for certification would lie with Lewis, according to the agreement.

Lewis also would give the supervisors updates on election operations in the county at least once per month, the agreement states.

A tense tangent by Pinal supervisors about vetting

During the meeting, Supervisor Kevin Cavanaugh questioned Lewis's qualifications and background.

The tense exchange between Cavanaugh, Lewis and other county supervisors came amid discussion of tweaking the agreement. Cavanaugh expressed concern that the board could be tasking Lewis with choosing an elections director and revising the county's elections procedures, among other duties, before she'd been fully vetted.

"We're talking about putting this lady over elections, and nobody's ever done a background check," he said, adding that it seemed like "a rubber-stamped decision."

Cavanaugh also questioned whether Lewis had gone through a background check before being appointed recorder by county supervisors last year. He asserted that Supervisor Mike Goodman had requested a background check be run on Lewis at that time.

His colleagues had a different recollection. Goodman said he never asked for a background check on Lewis.

"I'm not going to believe what you say," he told Cavanaugh.

Cavanaugh responded that he could provide a transcript from a board meeting that would prove a background check for Lewis was discussed. He later clarified to The Arizona Republic that he misspoke — a background check was mentioned in the agenda item to appoint Lewis on August 5, 2022, after the resignation of former Recorder Virginia Ross, who left her position to become the county's elections director. It was not discussed during the meeting.

"Discussion/approval/disapproval of the appointment of a County Recorder pursuant to A.R.S. 16-230 (A)(2) to fill the remainder of the term left by the resignation of Virginia Ross effective August 5, 2022, subject to a background check," the item read.

The final motion to appoint Lewis as recorder only stated that she would be appointed immediately, according to Clerk of the Board Natasha Kennedy. It did not make mention of a background check.

Cavanaugh directly asked Lewis if she had a "criminal background." Lewis said she did undergo a background check when she was first hired at the Recorder's Office and that she has no criminal record.

Cavanaugh told The Republic that he will continue to push for Lewis to undergo a background check.

"Whether it's her or anybody else in the position, we should conduct a background check," he said, adding that wasn't "picking on" Lewis specifically.

If passed, agreement will be revisited in February

The agreement, if passed, comes with an expiration date.

Supervisors and Lewis will revisit their elections arrangement at the start of February, according to the document. At that time, they'll have to decide whether to renew the agreement, revise it or let it expire entirely.

That gives county officials a chance to make fixes and adjustments to the agreement before voting begins in 2024. But it also could mean big changes just weeks ahead of the March presidential preference election.

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: It's back to the drawing board for Pinal County's elections agreement