An Arizona county that refused to certify the 2022 election has employed a brand new elections director who repeatedly unfold false claims about widespread election fraud.
The Cochise County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 2-1 to rent Bob Bartelsmeyer, La Paz County’s elections director for the previous 12 months, to run the county’s elections, after he was chosen by Republican Recorder David Stevens. Republican Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd voted sure and Democrat Ann English voted no.
Election officers throughout the state are resigning partially due to harassment linked to election misinformation. However the Republican supervisors indicated they weren’t involved that Bartelsmeyer had repeatedly shared posts on Fb baselessly saying that the 2020 election was rigged in opposition to Donald Trump, as Votebeat first reported on Monday.
The half-dozen county residents who spoke on the assembly Tuesday mentioned they have been against hiring him. Practically all of them mentioned they have been involved about Bartelsmeyer’s Fb posts as a result of they need their elections director to extend religion within the county’s elections, not make the scenario worse. Two particularly mentioned their considerations stemmed from the posts that have been first reported by Votebeat on Monday.
“Give it some thought. Our elections director can be chargeable for upholding Cochise County’s election integrity when he has maligned the integrity of lots of, if not hundreds, of election administrators throughout the nation who assured their voters that they’d accurately counted the votes of their voters,” mentioned Jeff Sturges, a Sierra Vista resident.
Stevens chosen Bartelsmeyer after the supervisors gave Stevens extra management over the county’s elections in February. In Arizona, state regulation usually separates election duties between an elections director who oversees Election Day and poll counting, and a recorder who oversees early voting.
The county’s prior elections director, Lisa Marra, resigned shortly earlier than that, claiming that she was maligned and harassed when she refused to maneuver ahead with the supervisors’ plan to illegally hand depend all ballots solid within the November election. A choose needed to pressure the supervisors to certify the county’s election after they mentioned they’d considerations with the safety of poll tabulation machines.
Bartelsmeyer has many years of expertise administering elections. Previous to his hiring a 12 months in the past in La Paz — a rural county in western Arizona — Bartelsmeyer mentioned he ran or labored in elections in Mohave County and counties in Missouri, Florida, and New Mexico.
Requested to talk on the assembly Tuesday, Bartelsmeyer emphasised his expertise as a rebuttal to some residents who had mentioned they didn’t imagine he wasn’t skilled sufficient for the job.
“I’ve over 30 years of expertise,” he mentioned. “Are you able to inform me who has extra expertise? I doubt you’ll find one.”
Stevens mentioned that two different folks utilized for the job however neither had any expertise as an elections director.
On Bartelsmeyer’s job utility, when requested if Cochise County might contact his most up-to-date employers in La Paz County; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and Palm Seashore County, Florida, Bartelsmeyer mentioned no. English and a number of residents pointed this out on the assembly.
“Did it not ship up any crimson flags that this individual didn’t need you to contact any former employers?” English mentioned.
Stevens mentioned it didn’t increase crimson flags for him as a result of he, too, has exercised that choice on job purposes. “It by no means crossed my thoughts that one thing was improper,” he mentioned.
Bartelsmeyer didn’t deal with this when he spoke, aside from telling the supervisors they need to ask La Paz County about his time there. “You’ll perceive and discover out that I used to be essentially the most clear elections director, and I’ve excessive marks from the county administrator who supervised me, all three board members of the supervisors, the county lawyer and in addition the clerk of the board.”
He emphasised that he was not in an elections director place from 2016 to 2021, a interval that features the instances he posted political beliefs concerning the 2020 election on his private Fb web page. However his web page reveals that he has posted his political beliefs since then, and since being employed by La Paz County.
He mentioned he needs transparency and integrity in elections.
“I would like issues proper,” he mentioned. “If I see one thing improper, I’ll spell it out to you. I need to be trustworthy and honest in each election.”
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