Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer will not get the second term he’d hoped for, despite his staunch defense of the 2020 and 2022 elections and faulty Arizona elections systems.
Richer conceded defeat on Wednesday to his challenger, Representative Justin Heap. In his concession remarks, Richer included a warning to his potential successor: that the recorder’s office is “cursed,” not unlike the Defense Against the Dark Arts course from the popular fictional series Harry Potter.
Back in February when Heap announced his campaign, Richer expressed confidence in his ability to defend his seat.
“I’m the only one who already has the signatures, has raised more money than all other candidates combined by a lot, has countywide name ID, and has shown I can win a competitive general election. There’s a reason why I’m in the office,” said Richer at the time.
The greater amount of campaign money didn’t seem to sway voters, and the name recognition apparently was more negative than it was positive.
Richer’s ousting in the primary by Republican voters confirms the community vocalizations of disaffection with his administration were of a majority, not minority.
The recorder’s personal political perspectives were thought to be offensive to many GOP voters, especially his recent declaration of his intent to vote for President Joe Biden rather than Donald Trump.
Rather than maintain or roll back controversial practices, such as ballot drop boxes, Richer would expand them. The administration of these drop boxes came with their own issues, such as miscommunications from the recorder’s office on their operating hours (leading some voters to lose out on dropping off their ballots).
Richer would also defend faulty voter registration systems, such as in the viral case of the disabled war veteran, “Howard,” who we reported on as unable to vote due to the county erroneously canceling his registration. He would also consistently shy away from taking responsibility on voter roll cleanliness, shifting the responsibility to voters or blaming federal regulations and concerns of disenfranchisement.
Rather than support signature verification procedures aligned with state law, Richer complained that they were too much work in comparison to those set forth by Katie Hobbs in 2019 while she was secretary of state.
In May, Richer seemingly admitted to violating a state statute requiring election officials to submit each party’s ballot proofs to local chairs in the kerfuffle over placing Republican candidate James Taylor on the ballot for the LD29 vacancy.
Richer’s innovations also served to further alienate the GOP base. There was the same-day rollout of the disinformation center and press pass restrictions, the latter of which a judge would rule against as unconstitutional after Richer’s office denied access to one media outlet.
Former Attorney General Mark Brnovich had to review Richer’s use of public money to influence a campaign by opposing Proposition 309, which Richer later agreed was inappropriate.
Though Richer took down the offending letter, he would continue to toe the line on appropriate use of public funds. During his ongoing defamation lawsuit against Senate candidate Kari Lake over the outcome of the 2022 gubernatorial race, AZ Free News reported that Richer had his staff compile articles and other content on her and the lawsuit, as well as on other topics of his personal interest that took “a significant amount of time” for staff.
In his retirement from public office, Richer says he plans to write longer-form content, hinting that his muses may be “election administration, democracy, politics, [and] humans.”
