After more than a year and a half of threats and heated criticism from backers of former President Donald Trump who accept his lie that he lost the 2020 election because of fraud, the elected county recorder and the elections director in Arizona are resigning.
According to the recorder, she has accepted a job outside the county and is fed up with thenastiness. The last day she will work will be July 22. The elections director is leaving for the same reason.
The nastiness that we have dealt with is a large part of the problem. In a Republican county, the candidate that they wanted to win by 2-to-1 won, and so is my staff.
She didn't know what they think we did wrong. They are very bad. There are accusations and threats.
Friday was busy for Constabile as he did a required pre- election test for the upcoming primary.
Election professionals across the nation have been threatened and harassed since Trump's victory. A former Georgia election worker testified to a congressional committee last week about how her life was upended when she and her mother were wrongly accused of pulling fraudulent votes.
The head of election security at the Arizona Secretary of State's office quit on May 6. He said that he left because he was tired of the threats and harassment he and other election workers were subjected to.
The 15 county recorders in Arizona are responsible for voter registration and ensuring mail ballots are sent to the correct voters. They make just $63,800 a year, a salary set by the Legislature that has not increased in the last decade.
The actual elections are overseen by the county elections directors. The election director has been with the company for 18 years.
After the 2020 election, the sheriff's office decided that she needed more protection and began regular patrols of her home.
The meetings of the Board of Supervisors are often filled with people holding signs and hissing from the back.
People come in and protest whenever there is a topic on the agenda. They don't like the programs we put in place and they don't like the vendors we use. That is very sad.
She said she once turned to those people in the back of the room and yelled at them.
She said that there was no one in this county that cared more about it than she did. "That was met with "Shut up, turn around, face the board; you're being condescending,""
This year's elections will be well run and the county supervisors will appoint qualified replacements, she said.
She said that they would be very careful about researching anyone they would consider appointing.
There will be early ballots for the primary.
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