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Special Meeting Minutes Monday, September 12, 2016 Board Members 9:30 AM Clint Hickman, Chairman, District 4 Andrew Kunasek, Vice Chairman, District 3 Denny Barney, District 1 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Steve Chucri, District 2 Maricopa County, Arizona Steve Gallardo, District 5 (and the Boards of Directors of the Flood Control District, Library District, Stadium District, Improvement County Manager Districts, and/or Board of Deposit) Joy Rich Clerk of the Board "The mission of Maricopa County is Fran McCarroll to provide regional leadership and fiscally responsible, necessary public services to its residents so Meeting Location they can enjoy living in healthy Supervisors’ Conference Room and safe communities” 301 W. Jefferson, 10th Floor Phoenix, Arizona 85003 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS The Board of Supervisors of Maricopa County, Arizona convened in Special Session at 9:30 a.m., on Monday, September 12, 2016, in the Supervisors’ Conference Room, 301 W. Jefferson, 10th Floor, Phoenix, AZ 85003, with the following members present: Clint Hickman, Chairman, District 4; Denny Barney, District 1; Steve Chucri, District 2; Steve Gallardo, District 5. Absent: Andrew Kunasek, Vice Chairman, District 3. Also present: Juanita Garza, Special Deputy Clerk of the Board; Joy Rich, County Manager and Michelle Wood, Legal Counsel. Minutes compiled by Lori Medaris, Minutes Coordinator. Votes of the Members will be recorded as follows: aye-nay-absent- abstain. ACTION 1. STATUS UPDATE AND/OR CANVASS OF THE ELECTION RETURNS FOR THE AUGUST 30, 2016 PRIMARY ELECTION Status update from Maricopa County Elections Department and/or Canvass the election returns for the August 30, 2016, Primary Election in accordance with the Official Results prepared by the Maricopa County Elections Department. The Maricopa County Elections Department has prepared the Official Returns from all county precincts, declaring the vote for the Primary Election held on August 30, 2016. The Elections Department requests that the Board of Supervisors canvass these returns and approve the Official Canvass for this election pursuant to A.R.S. §16-642 through §16-645, and in accordance with the Under Advisement Ruling of Judge Joshua D. Rogers in the matter of Jones et al. v. Reagan et al., CV2016-014708. The Official Canvass is on file with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and retained in accordance with LAPR approved retention schedule. (C-21-17-001-7-00) Helen Purcell, County Recorder and Karen Osborne, Elections Director, presented the 2016 Primary Election canvass and backup media. Ms. Purcell provided the statistics of the election noting that there was a 27.03% voter turnout. Supervisor Barney asked Kristi Passarelli, Assistant Director, Elections Department, to comment on a withdrawal statement from a write-in candidate for Precinct Committeeman that was specific to Duke Precinct. She stated that the person initially filed a statement of withdrawal with the County party chairman and the person was removed from the write-in list. Ms. Passarelli said she received an email from the individual on Monday before the election stating he wanted to remain on the ballot Special Meeting Minutes Monday, September 12, 2016 Page 2 of 3 (write-in list). The Department tabulated the results and posted them on the web site. Ms. Purcell noted that there will be an automatic recount in Congressional District 5. She was informed that the state will canvass this afternoon and that the canvass will be taken to the Superior Court where an order for an automatic recount will be issued. If everything proceeds as anticipated, there will be a recount on Tuesday, September 13, 2016 at 9 a.m. It is estimated that the recount will take until the end of the week to complete because the early ballots are counted in a mix mode and they have to run all of the early ballots back through the counting process. Supervisor Gallardo asked if someone wanted to challenge the canvass would they do so now or wait until after the recount. Andrea Cummings, Legal Counsel, responded that it is not set in statute when a canvass can be challenged and that they will have to wait and see if any legal action is taken after the recount. Discussion was held about problems that occurred at the polling places on election day; what the situations were, how the situations were resolved and what was the impact on voter turnout. Joseph Kanefield, representing Christine Jones, spoke on the issue where 18 voters claimed they were not allowed to vote and the judge upheld that the voters’ ballots were erroneously not counted. He asked that this canvass be postponed for one more day and stated the election is not final until the omitted votes are counted. Discussion was held about why Judge Rogers did not rule for all ballots to be recounted but only the 18. Ms. Cummings addressed questions from the Board stating that during the hearing there was no request to have all 136 votes recounted, so Ms. Purcell made the decision to count the votes specified in the court order. The Board requested several statutes be found concerning people not voting in the correct precincts. Kory Langhofer, representing Statecraft, PLLC, stated there were less than 136 ballots addressed in the specificity of the Jones request to the judge. The Jones campaign is now asking the Board to go further than what Judge Rogers ordered. Mr. Langhofer gave his opinion on what the ruling was about and stated he does not think it is appropriate to go beyond the judge’s order. Christine Jones, candidate for U. S. Representative, District 5, stated she is very knowledgeable about election procedures. She said her campaign received a list of 136 voters who voted at wrong precincts from the County Recorder. She explained the actions of her campaign in an effort to inform voters their votes had not been counted and the reactions of the impacted voters. She stated that her concerns were not about herself or her bid for election, but about the voters and their right to have their votes counted. She urged the Board and the County Recorder to make a concerted effort to educate the voters of Maricopa County before the November election. Motion to approve the official canvass as presented by Supervisor Chucri, seconded by Supervisor Gallardo Ayes: Hickman, Chucri, Barney, Gallardo Absent: Kunasek Special Meeting Minutes Monday, September 12, 2016 Page 3 of 3 MEETING ADJOURNED There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned. _______________________________ Clint Hickman, Chairman of the Board ATTEST _____________________________ Juanita Garcia, Special Deputy Clerk of the Board