Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Good morning, and welcome to the Board of Supervisors formal meeting of June 24, 2026. Thank you all for coming. Let's proceed with roll call.

Madam Clerk. Thank you. Good morning, Supervisor Stewart.

Here.

Supervisor Galvin. Here. Vice Chair Lesko. Here. Supervisor Gallardo. Here. Chair Profi McGee. Here.

With everyone in attendance, we will go to the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance. And I am turning it over to Vice Chair Lesko to introduce her guests, who will lead us.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Today, leading us in our prayer and pledge is Brian Dean. And if you would be so kind, after the prayer and pledge, I'd like to say some nice things about him. Yes, ma'am.

Thank you. Well, good morning, everyone. Would you please join me in prayer? Heavenly Father, we are grateful for this day that you have made and for this morning that we get to gather in. Father, we confess to you that our county is in need of you, in need of your love, in need of your wisdom, and in need of your guidance. And so this morning, I'd love to pray over all of the members of this board, Lord, that as they're making decisions for our county, that you would give them your wisdom to make decisions for the good of the county and in line with your will. Father, I also ask that you would strengthen them in their position of leadership and servanthood. God, would you increase the love that they have for all of those that they represent? And would you remind them of the love that you have for them? For all the citizens present today, I pray that you would increase the love that they have for the members of their board. And that together in your love, we'll continue to move more and more and more towards a unified and loving Maricopa County. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to Brian Dean. Brian is an Arizona native who grew up in the West Valley. He currently serves as a student pastor at Copper Hills Church in Peoria, where he works with junior high and high school students and their families. Brian and his wife Kylie recently welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Melanie, into their family. Congratulations, Brian. Brian enjoys investing in the next generation. building meaningful relationships, and helping students be with, think like, and be mistaken for Jesus. A little fun fact about Brian, Brian was the starting center for the Liberty Lions high school football team back in 2019, and they won the school's first state championship that year, so good job. Yes, deserve applause for that. And he also happens to be my community liaison, Jim Bull, who works for me, his grandson-in-law. So this runs in the family. Jim was a retired pastor, and now his granddaughter's husband is pastoring. So it just runs in the family. And thank you for all of everything that you do for our community, Brian. We appreciate you. Thank you, Supervisor. Let's go.

We will now go to Pet Showcase, and we will meet the star, is it Twirls? Twirl. Twirl, okay.

Whoa.

Too cute to be believed. Well, there's a different dog.

Yeah, no one's surprised, I suppose, that Casper got adopted. However, I will say that Casper was at the shelter longer than most puppies, so I thought I had a chance. Casper was at the shelter, I believe, for almost 10 days, so I'm like, worth a shot. And that just goes to show... the state of things right now we have a ton of puppies and we have a ton of small dogs uh we are or very full right now over 700 dogs as of this morning so come adopt of course and twirl is just one of them twirl is about four years old uh and she came into the shelter about 10 days ago as a stray so Unfortunately, she didn't have any ID, so she is now available for adoption. She can be a little nervous at first, but once you take her out of the kennel or she warms up to you, she is a wiggle worm. She was prancing from the parking lot to here and watching her prance, like that just tells me. She is full of spunk, full of life, and would be a really fun dog for anyone, really. And she's only seven pounds, so that's a win in itself as well. I will say her adopter, you know, she does have some stinky breath. So if you're going to adopt her, please make sure you take care of her teeth. She probably just needs a good full workup from a veterinarian, but she is still full of life and she loves hot dogs. And in case you're wondering, she got her name Toral because she will dance for hot dogs or probably any treat really. And she is already spayed, so she's ready to go home today.

Awesome.

Thank you, Kim. I must look like a hot dog because she twirled for me. She's just adorable, so thank you very much. Good luck. You will get this done. Madam Clerk, are there any announcements or corrections to the agenda? Madam Chair, I have none today. Thank you. Thank you very much. Before we start the business portion of our meeting, I will remind folks of the rules of decorum. It is the intent of the members of the Board of Supervisors to follow orderly procedures for conducting business. The chair of the board of supervisors has the authority to maintain order and professional standards during open meetings and may enforce these rules. Those disregarding the rules are subject to removal. Attendees will remain seated during an open meeting. This will minimize distractions to the board and other attendees unless you're called upon by the chair to address the board or if you leave the meeting room. No person attending an open meeting shall engage in disorderly or boisterous conduct, including but not limited to applause, whistling, stamping of feet, booing, or making any loud, threatening, profane, abusive, personal, impertinent, or slanderous utterance that disturbs, disrupts, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the meeting. Do not disparage other speakers. Don't use your valuable speaking time to do that. Come up here and tell us what your thoughts are. That would be the most helpful to us. And with those rules in mind, we will move forward to the next items on the agenda, statutory hearings. Item five, the impact statement hearing for the proposed Palomino Acres Irrigation Water Delivery District. and transportation 6A and B road files, as listed on the agenda. Madam Clerk, are there any speaker forms received for these items? Madam Chair, none were received for these items. Thank you. The board will now consider items 5 and 6A and B. Madam Vice Chair, do you have a motion, please?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that we approve items 5 through 6B. Thank you.

Is there a second, please?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Hearing no further discussion, we will proceed to a vote. All those in favor will say aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? Thank you. The motion carries unanimously. Continuing with our statutory hearings, air quality, Seven is a whole bunch of numbers. Rule 230, how's that? And environmental services, wastewater treatment plants. Madam Clerk, do we have any speaker forms? Madam Chair, none were received for these items. Thank you very much. The board will now consider items seven and eight. Madam Vice Chair, is there a motion, please? Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that we approve items seven and eight. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and ultimately seconded. Hearing no further discussion, we will proceed to a vote. All those in favor will say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Moving on to the Board of Supervisors Consent Agenda. And reaching out to my fellow supervisors, do you wish to remove any item from the consent agenda?

Madam Chair.

Mr. Stewart.

Thank you. I have a few questions about item number 53.

And thank you. And as chair, it's my understanding we have speakers on item number 100, which is in my district. So I will remove that from consideration as well. Madam Vice Chair, we will now consider items 9 through 52, and 54 to 99, and 101 to 105. Did I get my numbers right? And if so, I'd appreciate a motion. right thank you madam chair i move that we approve items 9 through 52 items 54 through 99 and items 101 through 105. thank you is there a second second it's been moved and seconded all in favor of the preceding items listed will say aye aye aye are there any opposed motion passes unanimously we will now go for separate consideration of item number 53 And that would be the Maricopa County Fiscal Year 2026 Access Voter Information Database, otherwise known as AVID, and our dues payment. I would like to call forward Mr. Zach Shearer to be available for questions. Mr. Stewart.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, Zach. How are you? A couple of questions. Actually, I've got a handful of questions on this system. I understand that there's only a couple of counties that have not opted into this in the past. What does it actually, what does it do for us?

What does the system, what do we use it for? Thank you, Madam Chair, Supervisor Stewart. My understanding of AVID is that it's this statewide voter registration database and that only Pima and Maricopa County don't use it in full in terms of as their own separate voter registration database. There is a requirement for the Secretary of State to provide a voter registration database to all counties. I think because of Maricopa and Pima's size, they've elected to form their own. But our systems still communicate back and forth with the AVID system to update registrations between counties and such. And so we might not use it on a day-to-day basis to register voters. But my understanding is that we are still connected to the broader voter registration database for the state.

Okay. As I understand it, in the past, well, it's something that we can access for free, but we went from $380,024 to the new bill is almost $500,000 or it is $500,000 or a little bit more. What do we get for that?

Madam Chair, Supervisor Stewart, I don't know that we can access this for free. There's a statute that discusses counties needing to have agreements with the state to access this and to pay for AVID. And so we've done that annually every single year that AVID's been in existence, except for one when the legislature actually appropriated funds to cover the county's portion. And so I don't know that we've ever been in a situation where the county hasn't paid its AVID bill other than that one legislative approval.

Okay. So you're saying this is a mandatory expense that's required by statute that we have to pay?

Madam Chair, Supervisor Stewart, after consulting with MCAO, that is what staff believes. Oh, okay. I understand. I appreciate that.

So as I understood it, the previous recorder before Recorder Heap and our current Secretary of State did not opt into this payment Is that something you're aware of? Madam Chair, Supervisor Stewart, I'm familiar with both of those scenarios.

In the first scenario, when Mr. Fontes opted not to pay, the Board of Supervisors decided to pay in his stead as well, given that the requirement is for the county more broadly and not just the recorder's office. And then subsequently, Mr. Richer also had two years, I want to say, where he tried not to pay this bill. One of those years is the year that the legislature covered all of the county portions. That other year, the Board of Supervisors also paid the bill on behalf of the Recorder's Office. Okay, last question. Do we have an IGA on this issue, on this item? Madam Chair, Supervisor Stewart, I don't believe that we have an IGA on this, but we do participate in the AVID program in terms of being connected to it. Okay, and Madam Chair, last thing.

Can I connect with you after the meeting to kind of dig in this a little bit deeper to understand? I just want to know, excuse me, what we get for the money, right? And one other thing, are we getting reimbursed? Is there any federal funding?

Madam Chair, Supervisor Stewart, that's correct. It's not federal funding. It's actually money that the legislature appropriated or allowed the Secretary's office to have access to. I believe it's excess revenues from the CD7 election. that they're allowing to cover reimbursement for the counties. If I may add, it has been expressed to me that it's a priority of the Secretary's office to have AVID be fully state-funded and fully sustainable and not have counties pay into it. We've had conversations over the last few legislative sessions about that being the case. I think that there have been multiple counties expressing frustration at having to pay this bill for something that's a statewide issue. responsibility. So I believe that those conversations remain ongoing. And I think that the last couple years of sporadic years where the state has covered this bill on behalf of counties is the legislature and the secretary edging towards that goal. Okay, I appreciate that.

Well, as always, you're an expert on this and I appreciate the update. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Any other questions for board members?

Madam Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to confirm what I think I heard is that the staff got an opinion from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office that we need to pay this bill. Madam Chair, Supervisor Lesko, that's correct.

Thank you.

Thank you. Seeing no further questions, I will ask for a motion for approval of item number 53.

Madam Chair, I move that we approve item number 53. Thank you. Is there a second? Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Hearing no further discussion, we will proceed to a vote. All those in favor will say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Going on to item 100, which is a road abandonment, road file AB0397. Thank you, Mr. Smith and Mr. Gutierrez for coming forth to ask questions. It is my understanding we have speakers here on behalf of this item.

Madam Clerk. Madam Chair, yes, I did receive two speaker forms. Both are in favor. One has marked that he wishes to speak, Randy Gianni, if I'm saying that correctly. And the other form I received is from Cesar Romero, wishes to speak only if necessary, but also in favor. Thank you. Mr. Giano, would you come forward?

Thank you very much for coming to speak to us. And please note that you have two minutes. And would you be so kind as to introduce yourself? My name is Randy Gianni. Thank you.

I'd like to speak to the intent of this original road easement. I moved out here in 1984. My mom and dad, Alfred and Emily, came out in 1986. We looked at this property. They bought it with the intent on me building a house for them. And the whole, for many, many years, we would visit the property. My mom and dad would come out. Their intent was to have a private road so they can, you know, they live in New Jersey. They come out here once in a while. They asked me to build a house, and it took many, many years, and we haven't done it. My dad gave up. When the road easement came out, he sold the land probably for a dollar, which I think is crazy, but he said, well, I'd get a free driveway out of that, so he always thought that was interesting. What's happened through the years is I go up there all the time with my family. I visited. Although I haven't built on it, ironically, my 96-year-old mother is coming out to move with me. And she finally said, we're finally going to build a house on the property. So the purpose of this conversation is that was always intended to be a private road. Now, when we gave up the easement, It was still a private road in our eyes because Cesar, who's here, myself and the other two gentlemen here, we would use it, we maintained it, we put it at our own expense against the community because we were told it was abandoned many, many years ago. So we decided to put a fence on it because a lot of people go up and down, which is tough because it's a single road. So the purpose, again, is the intent that my parents, myself, we wanted to keep this a private community. Now all of a sudden, we have a situation where another gentleman wants to gain access to the road. And it really takes away from what the intent was, number one, and it also doesn't share the cost of what we've done. So I would like to keep the road. Well, what they're going to do is... there's a road they're gonna abandon the road once they abandon the road we can take it take it back over it's a private uh private road so again that was the original tent and i hope my mother gets her wish i built a house for her thank you thank you very much sir uh caesar do you wish to come forward and speak i'm sorry i can't remember your last name madam clerk caesar romero thank you um

Like Randy said, we've done all the improvements on the road. It's only a single lane road. It's a mountain road. There's no room to go up to the top of the mountain and turn around. So the gentleman that's wanting access to the road backs down the road, backs into my property, and then to pull out.

All the houses on the north side of Mattock Road have given the easement for this road.

The desired use by this guy, by the neighbor that wants the road opened up, is for his own convenience. And that's not necessary. He has a lot there where he can pull in, where he pulls into the front of his house, and he can pull into where he needs to go.

it's not for necessity. So it's disturbing.

We've also maintained a road, and we watch over it. The neighbors have cameras. I have cameras. We've had people up on top of the mountain there, young kids partying, drinking, and actually having sex up there. And so we take care of it. I'm concerned about all the riffraff and that kind of stuff at the road. It becomes a public road because people do like to go there and try to get up there. There's no reason to go up there. other than for us to get to our properties. Thank you, Mr. Romero.

Very quickly, I find myself, I wanted to first of all, thank you, Mr. Romero. We have, I've worked with transportation, planning and zoning, enforcement, to really study this matter. I know there is at least one individual who is opposed, as was referenced in the public speaking. But Jesse, can you, Mr. Gutierrez, can you give us a thumbnail sketch of where we are on this? We looked at every single aspect of it.

Yes, Madam Chair and members of the board, good morning. I'm Jesse Gutierrez, county engineer and director of transportation. So item before the board is to release these easements dedicated to the county but have not been opened and declared by the county, have not been taken into the system. These easements are typically reserved for roadway development. The alignment of this particular roadway, the geography of it, is really a complicating matter. It is very steep, single lane mountain road. It would be cost prohibitive to build it and meet the county standards. So it'd be very expensive to build. I think if the road was constructed, it would possibly serve 11 homes, seven of which already have primary access from a private drive. So this roadway, expensive roadway, would essentially serve only four homes. And that's not a very good return on the taxpayers' investment. So for these reasons, the taxpayers' interest, it's not in our interest to build and maintain this roadway as a county. So we've looked at that in conjunction with our real estate and planning and development. So I think from that point, we look at, okay, it's not a buildable It's not something that provides regional connectivity. It does not provide local connections to throughout the neighborhood circulation, doesn't provide that local circulation. So to safeguard the taxpayers interest, we really need to look at the next step, which is what do we do with these easements? Keeping these easements and or taking them into the county system, perpetuates a financial risk. As you've heard some of the testimony of what goes up and down that road, it's deep, it's dangerous. Um, so from that point, the easement consideration that we've looked at extensively because the homeowners to the south have that primary access, uh, they're really, uh, the abandonment of these easements does not pose a hardship on them. Additionally, the owners on the north have all entered into a private access agreement that allows them to maintain access through that private drive, what would be Matic Road would be a private drive, and also have included access for a well site that's on the south side for the south side homeowners. So everybody maintains the necessary access that they're looking for. really from a transportation perspective. These easements are not needed. We will not be building a road there. It's just not a feasible option. So our recommendation from the transportation viewpoint is we can abandon these easements. They will not be needed for transportation purposes now or in the foreseeable future. With that, I do want to say that Of course, the county takes these matters very, very seriously. We've done extensive research, looked at every option to make sure that we're dealing with this as fairly as possible. Mr. Smith, the Director of Real Estate in the SME, the Real Estate Department, can speak to the legalities and the process by which he's coordinated through MCAO and received opinions on this matter. Alex.

Mr. Smith?

Alex Smith, Director of Real Estate. Based on the input from the Department of Transportation, which you just heard from Mr. Gutierrez, it was determined that the roadway was no longer needed. The easements were granted from the properties to the north, so they were extinguished. That's where the rights would be returned. And in looking at this, primary access is the primary review point and we've consulted with MCAO and secondary access isn't something that can be used for the determination on whether to relinquish the easement or not. So based on their direction and the direction from the Department of Transportation, we move forward with the relinquishment and recommend approval.

Thank you very much. Are there questions from board members? Hang on. So when this item first came to my attention, it was brought by a gentleman who was in opposition to this abandonment. I cannot thank transportation, real estate, and planning and zoning enforcement on a separate issue enough for their valuable time in coming to an understanding that, as so often happens, government is not the solution. government should do nothing other than what is being recommended, which is to abandon the road and let the individuals within that area work together to come up with solutions, which it sounds like they've already done. Definition of a compromise is most, if not all, people are unhappy. But a compromise has been reached. And I want to be respectful of any in opposition But I absolutely recommend and appreciate this approach. And all the local governments in which I've served, it's just another lesson about how Maricopa County operates efficiently, appropriately, and respectfully to the taxpayers. So with that, unless there are any further questions, I would ask Madam Vice Chair for a motion on item number 100, road abandonment. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that we approve item number 100. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing no further discussion, we will proceed to a vote. All those in favor will say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Many thanks. We will move on to item 106, Maricopa County revolving lines of credit. Madam Clerk, are there any speaker forms? Madam Chair, none on this item. Thank you. The board will now consider item 106. Madam Vice Chair? Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that we approve item number 106. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded. Hearing no discussion, we'll proceed to vote. All those in favor will say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. The next item is 107. Preemptorily, I'm going to ask Zach Shearer and Scott Jarrett forward to present. And I will also ask, Madam Clerk, are there any speaker forms received for item 107?

Madam Chair, yes. I have seven speaker forms for this item number 107.

OK. Gentlemen, brief presentation. And then we will hear from our public.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I can prod Mr. Jared along if he's being too detailed on a single slide so that we can get through that. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks for having us here today. We're here to present the 2026 primary and general elections plan. And for that, I'll turn it over to Scott, who can take us through some slides. I'll have a few slides myself, and then we can take any questions.

Thank you.

So Madam Chair, members of the board, hopefully no prodding will be needed. I'll try to keep my comments brief. However, once I get talking about elections, I like to get into the details sometimes. So I'll do my best to avoid that. But yes, thank you for your time this morning. Today is actually the first day of early voting for the upcoming July 21st primary election. And I am happy to report that 16 early voting locations did open up on time this morning with pretty seamlessly no issues. And I do believe some people probably are already getting their text messages from the recorder's office notifying them that their ballot's being mailed to them so voters can expect to receive those in the next few days. So the first slide that I wanted to cover is just, and you have in your packet a copy of the slide deck that I'll be reviewing. It's an example of an informational handout that we provide to the local jurisdictions. It's on a new process that we're going to be implementing for this election cycle, and then the actual plan itself. So, but this first slide deck, or slide that I'd like to cover, just the key dates for the upcoming primary election and the general election. Actually, ballots did mail several weeks ago to our military and overseas voters for the upcoming July primary election that happened on June 6th. And then the voter registration deadline already passed. So if you were not registered to vote, you are not able to for this election. But one thing that you can do is you can update your voter registration all the way up through election day, even at the voting locations. so early voting begins today and then um we'll have election day on uh july 21st there is a and this has been a new process but in the last two years there's a five uh calendar day cure period so this is different from there was a brief period from 2018 through early 2024 where it was a five business day, which sometimes meant that it was voters had up to seven days or even eight days if there's a holiday that if their signature was questioned by the recorder's office to cure that because it is a calendar day. Now the deadline is at 5 p.m. on that Sunday. Again, a process that is under the recorder's office. And so those are the dates for the primary election. We have those corresponding dates down below for the general election as well. So the next slide is just some things that voters need to know. We will be expanding the number of voting options for voters for both the primary and the general election. For the primary election, we have 237. This will be the most vote centers ever that we're recommending that the board approve. For a primary election in 2024, we had 222. And then for the general election, we're currently at 255 vote centers for election day. We got up to 256 last week, and then we lost one. But we're hoping to get up to 260 vote centers. So it will be more than what we were in prior elections. Madam Chair.

Mr. Gallup. Quick question. Do you remember how many for the general?

Madam Chair, Supervisor Galvin, in 2024, and then that was the highest number in 2024, we had 246. So we'll have at least nine more that are under contract, and we are looking to get to that 250. The areas that we do have a few gaps that we're still looking at is there's one area in the, I've mentioned this before, but in the Far West Valley and the Waddell area, love to have another vote center in that area. We would like to have the Mesa, Dobson, library branch area. We usually use that as a vote center. It is under construction, so it's not available for us. We'd like to replace that with a vote center. Another one up in North Peoria, Glendale area. I'd like to get a vote center there. And then one up in the desert, Vista Desert Foothills area up in District 3 between where you get to North Phoenix and Anthem. That area, we've lost a voting location there as well. And then there's one in South Phoenix that we're looking for sort of by the Academy of South Mountain, that school district. I'd like to add one more location there.

Mr. Jarrett, super quick. You said 250. I think you meant 260.

Oh, 260, that's right, correct. For the general election, so the legislative session just passed. They did sine die, and so we, based on the number of referrals that the legislature is sending to the ballot, we are anticipating another two-page ballot, two separate pieces of paper, front and back. So we're preparing for that. We're actually in the middle of proofing that ballot. We finished our logic and accuracy test earlier this week, and we're starting to proof all those questions that are being submitted to the ballot from those local jurisdictions there are hand counts in these primary and general elections so the political parties come in and join us and do a hand count after election day and then this new process and i'm not going to go into too much detail here because we have several slides that will cover it but it's about um voters with that mail-in ballot can now show up In person at an early voting center, emergency voting center, or election day, check in and have it bypass signature verification or have it tabulated on election day. We have a nice little video that describes that process as part of this presentation. So we always do turnout projections for these elections. On the slide here, you can see for the primary election, we're expecting about 35% turnout. That would be near historic all-time highs for a primary election. You'd have to go back to the 50s or 60s where you'd see turnout exceed that. So that would be right around 910,000 total voters participating. On election day, we're estimating somewhere between the range of 160,000 and 60,000 on the low end. And really turnout is like these elections are infrequent. So trying to project turnout is difficult. We use historical elections. And then if there's any emerging topic that might impact turnout. So that's what this range looks like. But usually we tend to overestimate because it's easier to prepare for more ahead of time than to have to recover. And if you've underestimated, that's much more challenging. For the general election, we're estimating right around 65% turnout. Again, that would be fairly high considering historical numbers. And that's what the chart that we're showing here on the slide is showing. So 65% turnout for 2026. We had 64% turnout in the two prior gubernatorial election cycles. So that would be about 1.7 million voters participating. This does anticipate about 260 voters showing up and checking in on election day to get election day ballot printed. And then about 200,000 voters bringing the early ballot and whether they're dropping that off or checking in. So about 460,000 total voters visiting one of our voting locations on election day. Madam chair.

mr stewart thank you thank you scott um so the big the big challenge we have obviously uh is those early ballots being dropped off at a voting location on election day that backs up the signature verification process which is faster now but that's what really delays us giving the final results and i remember uh former chairman galvin impressing upon the legislature and our governor to try to improve that timing to be able to almost ask people to turn them in early? What is our plan to sort of communicate to the public, hey, if you guys get your ballots in early, right, if you get those mailed and you don't wait until the last minute, how does that expedite our counting, if you will, our tabulation? And then what is the marketing plan to tell that story?

So, Madam Chair, Supervisor Stewart, We actually have a couple of slides where we'll be going into detail on that. So would you mind bearing? Oh, I'm excited. Waiting for a few minutes. Thank you. Yeah. And then, Mr. Shearer, I'll be talking about some of our paid media strategies as well. OK, so this slide shows basic turnout percentages for the since 2020 through 2024. how voters have chosen to participate in the electoral process here in Maricopa County. So between 47% to 51% of our voters actually mail back their ballots, so mail it through the U.S. Post Office. The other voters either vote in person early, so let's say they're 3% to 11%, so those are voters going to an early voting location, checking in, and then having a ballot printed to them. About 30% to 34% of voters take that mail-in ballot and drop it off at a drop box, an early voting location, or an Election Day voting location. And then about 8% to 16% of voters choose to participate on Election Day, checking in, getting an Election Day ballot printed for them, and then casting that in an Election Day tabulator. So roughly about 50% use the post office. and about 50% use one of the voting locations that either the Recorder's office is setting up for early voting or that the Board of Supervisors is setting up for emergency or Election Day voting.

Madam Vice Chair. Madam Chair, I just want, sometimes it's confusing. I find the numbers, because we usually say, what, 85% of the people vote early, correct? And so we would get there by doing the people that actually mail back their ballots, which is the 47% to 51%. Then we'd add the early people that show up and vote early plus the drop-offs. Is that how we get to the 85%?

Madam Chair, Supervisor Lesko, that's correct. So this is showing whether they're using the post office or whether they're visiting a voting location or a drop box that the county has set up for them to return their ballot.

Yes, thank you. Please continue.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And for this slide, I'm actually going to turn it over to Mr. Shearer to talk a little bit about our paid media strategy.

Thanks, Scott. Yes, Madam Chair, board members. Obviously, communicating with our voters is one of the most important aspects of elections. Ensuring that they know where, when, and how they can participate is paramount. Over the years, Maricopa County has appropriated dollars to the elections department. to engage in paid marketing campaigns to ensure that those messages get across to voters so that they know where to look to find their closest voting location or where to get facts about that election. So I'm happy to present to you, and we've obviously had briefings about this, and the public may have started to see some of our digital and billboard ads with our Vote Confidently campaign, which is centered around ensuring that voters know where to get facts so that they can participate so they're confident in how they participate and voting in maricopa county and so largely it's a campaign directing folks to maricopa.vote so that they can understand how to participate and choose from from the point that they get to that website but really ensuring that people know how to get their information we don't care how you vote we just care that you know how to participate and how to get that information when you'd like to see it. In addition to our paid media campaign, we'll do our normal earned media strategies, including press releases, as well as a media boot camp. We bring the media in before both elections to ensure that they're up to speed on any changes the legislature has made to the process, as well as just to refresh them on the general processes that occur in elections. As you all know, and I'm sure the media or the public watching knows, Elections can get complicated, it's very detail-oriented, and so making sure that folks who cover this for a living understand in detail what's happening so that they can accurately report out to the community is incredibly important. In addition, we'll continue to have robust social media campaigns to go along with both our Vote Confidently campaigns and our normal earned media strategies. As you'll see in a couple slides here, an example of one of our animated videos Our team does a great job of producing animated videos to try to distill some of these complex elections procedures and processes into understandable analogies so that voters can really understand and believe what's happening. We'll continue to do Tour Tuesdays as long as we're not within our blackout period during an election. We try to accommodate groups who'd like to tour McTech. We also accommodate individuals who reach out wanting to tour by themselves. So if you'd like to do that, you can reach out to our outreach team at elections. And then finally, we continue to produce our voter education toolkit.

Madam Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. Zach, can you tell us when the blackout time is for the tour Tuesdays?

Madam Chair, let Scott answer that. So, Madam Chair, Supervisor Lesko, actually, as soon as we do the logic and accuracy tests on our equipment, we lock down big tech. So that occurred this past Monday. So we will be opening up tours again. And this will be a little bit contingent on if there's a recount with this election. So if there's a recount though, a court will order us to recount those ballots that will extend the primary election But as long as there's not a recount, we'll be looking to open up tours again in mid-August. And then they'll go back into a blackout period in early October as we get through the November general election. And I will say, we call it Tour Tuesdays. We've been having multiple tours every single Tuesday. As long as we've not been in a blackout period from January all the way through, this past week. But in the month of June, we had so many requests. We had expanded to Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays. So we knew that we were going into a blackout period. So because there is so much demand, we wanted to make sure that the community has as much access to McTech as possible.

Please proceed. Thank you, Madam Chair. And just to wrap up on this slide, our voter education toolkit, we provide these to our partner jurisdictions, as you're familiar. We're the contracted entity to provide the jurisdictions with their elections. And usually people think of those in terms of the standalone off-year elections. But our jurisdictions also have items on the ballot for this July and November as well. And so providing them with that information so that they can promote accurate information to their voters that they care about is paramount.

So Madam Chair, this is a few of the examples of the items that are in that voter education toolkit. And we provide the jurisdictions with example social media items that they can publish. Using their branding, usually that's key dates for the election. Informational graphics about what voters can expect if they show up at a vote center, what types of ID that they could use. And we also then have this brand new infographic or informational handout. I did provide a copy of it to you. And it is highlighting that ID verification and tabulation of early ballots at a voting location. and what voters could expect if it's during early voting and checking in and putting in a drop box and skipping signature verification or on election day. So these are the types of handouts that we provide and the jurisdictions have it, but at any voter outreach events that we'll have between now and the end of the year, we'll also have copies of these handouts available for voters. And we're happy to share them with your offices and you can distribute them as well.

Thank you, and yes, please.

And we're going to actually play a short video that describes the new process, and I think there might be a little delay as we're ready to go. So we're going to go ahead and play that video.

There are usually a few different routes you can drive to your destination, whether it's the freeway, surface streets, or a shortcut you know. Voting in 2026 works the same way. You still have your usual options, plus a couple new routes when returning your early ballot at a vote center. So what are these new routes? Before Election Day, you can bring your early ballot signed and sealed in the green affidavit envelope to a vote center. Check in, show your ID, and your identity is verified right there. It's a shortcut to get your ballot counted faster. On election day, there's another route you can take with your early ballot in the green affidavit envelope. Check in, show your ID, remove your ballot from the green envelope, and feed it into a secure on-site tabulator programmed specifically for early ballots. Ballots tabulated at a vote center are included in election night results. However, just like before, you can still return your early ballot by mail, at a secure dropbox, or vote in person, early or on election day. Different routes, same destination, so you can vote confidently. Visit maricopa.vote to learn more about elections in Maricopa County.

So Madam Chair, this is actually our first showing of this video publicly, so we'll be actually sharing this through our social media accounts. This will be posted at electionvideos.maricopa.vote. and you can actually go find lots of informational videos about how voters can participate in the process. Similar to the handouts, we have a video that talks about the types of ID that you would need voting in person at a voting location, describes what a primary election is and how it's different from a presidential preference election or a general election. We have videos on Obviously this new process but a whole variety of things that voters would if they're curious or interested in wanting to know more about the elections process they can go to that website and watch those videos. So I have had questions about this new process and whether and how we're going to implement it and how would what would voters expect if they're showing up at a voting location. Some of those questions are well Is there going to be one line or is there going to be two lines at the voting locations? And the reality is we have many lines at the voting locations already. So what we're going to be implementing at our voting locations, and this is for early voting as well as emergency voting on election day, is if you're going to check in. So check in to get a ballot printed or check in bringing in your mail vote or ballot you'll have one line that you'll be lining up in there will be a secondary pathway at our voting locations that will allow those voters that want to skip the line entirely right they want to just go and take their ballot and drop it off in a drop box and then there's we need to have a pathway for voters to be able to leave the voting location as well so that's what this graphic is sort of depicting what our our voting locations are now This is showing what our lowest common denominator voting location is. We have some locations that have these very narrow sidewalks outside. There's not room to add this additional second line. Because the thinking there would be you'd have one line for voters that are checking in, getting a ballot printed. like on Election Day or during early voting, and then another line for voters that are bringing in their mail-in ballot to be able to check in. And the reality is we don't have enough space in most of our locations to be able to accommodate that second line. It also could create confusion for voters, right, because we post on our website wait times at our voting locations, which would show the wait time for that line. If there's multiple lines, voters may not know which line that they're looking at. When they're arriving at the voting location, they may not be aware of which line they should stand in. We will have signage, and we'll show some of that signage of how we are going to help voters navigate this new process. But based on longstanding processes, best practices, all the mock elections we did this spring, we're confident that one line is the best option. one of the pieces is really related to we just don't have space in our boating locations to accommodate adding an additional line plus then taking and adding even additional check-in stations yes thank you madam chair um scott how are you envisioning uh these signs is it going to be similar to tsa

Or do we not have that bandwidth, you know, to have those ropes, they're not ropes, but those lines, and then have a sign like this way is pre-check, this way is general boarding, you know, that type of thing.

Madam Chair, I'm actually going to skip ahead a few slides where we can see the signs, and I think Mr. Shearer wants to talk a little bit about them.

But to that point... Mr. Gallardo. To that point, Scott, don't...

Don't we have, I don't know if it's the marshal or someone who is, who may be available, especially on the very busy times that, you know, we know which periods of the day that you're going to have, you know, it's that right after work, everyone's going. And then that early morning, you know, on their way to work, they show up. But don't we have a marshal or maybe I'm thinking of a different position. to be out there helping navigate on top of the signage, kind of help voters if they have any questions, that sort of stuff.

Madam Chair, Supervisor Guerrero, yes, we will have some of our poll worker positions that can rotate between the marshal or one of our clerk positions. But they're actually going out every 15 minutes and counting the number of voters in line. And then they're going and reporting that information on our check-in stations that then reports that information up to our website. But they're actually monitoring the line even more frequently than every 15 minutes. They're going to have a handout. that's going to describe the different processes and some frequently asked questions that voters may have about this new process to help them navigate and find the right location for them to be in.

So regarding the workers that are inside, I'm looking at the diagram. Is there a no wrong desk approach?

In other words, if you wait in line to get up to the front, Are they trained to send you where you need to go? Or if you got in the wrong line, quote unquote, with the two lines theory, would you then have to start over? How does that work with the employee training?

So, Madam Chair, because we're only implementing the one line, right, it is the only option for the voters to send it if they want to check in. Now, if for some reason someone bypasses that and they walk all the way and they want to – actually participate in the check-in and they meet that first poll worker at the front of the voting location, they'll be able to redirect them back to where they could stand in line. And that's some of the value of these additional signs that we're adding at the voting location. I sort of view it as, I don't know if you're ever driving on the freeway and you start to see, well, I live in Goodyear, so there's a new Buc-ee's. And I think you see these signs for those buckies, that 973 miles to your next buckies. So we're going to have one sign that's advertising this new process, and then another sign that will be a wayfinding sign.

Nobody likes line cutters. I've worked a lot of poles in my day, and people don't like it when somebody walks past them. So I appreciate the redirection. I know in a mock election, I was exactly one of those voters. And I got sent back to the end of the line. At any rate, thank you.

But it is, and to their point, Madam Chair, it is, and I think it's important for us, I mean, it is a certain period of day, either in the early mornings, that you potentially will see a lot. I mean, it's not... or at the very end of the day, I don't even know the times, but five to seven or six to seven, that you may see a small line. know it's not like you're going to bucky's on the grand and the grand opening here and you're all waiting in line no it is a certain period of time and i think voters if they understand that and know that that in these period of times it's like anything else you know it's like rush hour traffic you know you know you know if you leave work at 5 30 you're going to be in a you know a little traffic going home or if you you know you head into work at a certain time you're gonna be a little traffic it's no different i think as long as we understand and really do our best to really educate the voters and let them know, you know, these are the preferred times. Or even the online system that you have where you can actually look to see what the line is like, if there is a line. For the most part, there's not going to be a line. There's just not. But if you go in those certain period of hours, that one hour in the morning, that one hour in the evening, throughout the day, you are going to potentially see a line. Excellent.

So, Madam Chair, to your point about line cutters or folks who have to be redirected, that's exactly what the signs that we have is, what they're intended to preclude folks from doing. So the first sign on the left there is supposed to be an attention-grabbing sign. Obviously, because it's elections, this is a little more complicated. We have early and in-person voting having to be explained on the one sign, but it's supposed to be farther away from the vote center as you're walking up to catch your attention if you're that voter who has their early ballot sealed in your envelope in your hand, that there's a new option for you if you don't already know it. At that point, through some of our poll workers, you can request more information. We'll have handouts further explaining this new option so that before you get past the end of the line, you can decide for yourself, am I going to take my early ballot I'm going to walk all the way up to the front and put it in the drop box, or I'm going to stay here and stand back in line. Because what we don't want is folks getting frustrated, you know, repeatedly having to go all the way up to the front and then back. And so that second line, that second sign there to the right is supposed to be and will mirror where the end of the line is so that folks know, okay, now I've been alerted to this new process. I've had a chance to decide. I need to either stand in line here or proceed to the front so that they're not going all the way up to the front and having to go back. Like Supervisor Gardner said, those lines will only be at certain times of the day, but our focus in person is to de-escalate situations and to not have situations where voters are frustrated or unhappy. We want them to have information so that it's a smooth process, and that's what these signs are designed to do. Mr. Gatlin.

I'm looking at these signs, and I don't want to be micromanaging, because there's a lot of information that voters have to see, comprehend, and understand. At the same time, as we were talking before, you just want to get in and out as fast as you can. So it's good to have a lot of information, but at the same time, I feel like these signs are very busy, right? It's like a blocked text. My family says I'm not the most detail-oriented guy. I just go, and then I figure it out. Is there going to be someone standing next to the sign to kind of alert people's attention and say, hey, almost like shouting it out or pay attention or here's the sign? Because I just wonder if a lot of people just see the sign and they go, oh, that's a lot of reading. I'm just going to keep going. Any contingent thoughts about that or plans for that?

So Madam Chair, Supervisor Galvin, obviously we've had – Discussions previously about whether or not to alert voters to this verbally one-on-one and we've been advised It's probably best to try not to do that because you'll end up missing voters But I do know that Scott has a plan to ensure that voters do see this and do understand it if they they find it Okay, and so what's the I guess the backup plan or plan B if let's say someone like me just blows right past the sign Just keeps going and then all of a sudden now I'm like, where do I go?

What do I do?

So madam chair supervisor Calvin, um This is a primary topic in our poll worker training. Also, our inspectors, who are the supervisors of the voting location, it's another big topic that's covered in that training as well. And the backup plan really is that if someone does bypass this, they didn't read that because, as you say, there's a lot of information on these signs, and it is to be expected that some voters will just walk right by that and not really read them. then that's that voter that's standing at the front of the voting location, greeting them, and then would help them navigate what they want to do. If they want to go check in, they can go back to the end of the line. If they want to go and proceed and drop off their ballot in the drop box, they can do that. I do want to hone in on what Supervisor Cairoda was saying. So in 2024, early voting, there was no lines at all except for the very last Friday right before election day. And those lines only begin to form at the very end of the day on that Friday. So every other day of early voting, voters would show up and there's zero lines, right? They're just going to interact directly with the poll worker and the, and voters, right, is an infrequent process. So usually voters that are showing up, they're inquisitive, they're curious, they want to know, okay, how do I do this process? And so that's what those poll workers are trained to help guide them through that process. When you get to election day in the mornings and in the late evenings, there could be short lines for this primary election. Very, very short lines if we base it off history and also that we're expanding the number of voting locations. So we're going to take a lot of information from these primary elections. We can even apply that moving forward into the general election. just like we did with our mock elections when we learned in March when we implemented this for the first time. We didn't have on-site tabulation in March or May, but this was still a process that was being used. So we'll continue to make refinements as we progress, but I'm confident that our poll workers are ready and to be able to walk voters through what their options are.

And Madam Chair, one suggestion I have for you guys as a follow-up, and once again, I don't want to act like I'm micromanaging everything, but with that sign, think maybe using different colors for the different categories you have is to kind of like you grab the viewer with just different ways of doing the sign i just see it's all white text all blue background it kind of just looks the same if there's maybe a way to like partition things or to use different colors just so you're grabbing the reader's attention at each section that they're looking at that's just one suggestion i might make for the for the general if you if you have time to do that or want to look back at that i just think people are just going to A lot of people are just going to walk right by and just see that as like a wall of text. Thank you, Madam Chair.

And Madam Chair, just to that, I think Mr. Galvin is on to something because I think that the arrows, the red arrows, everyone knows those red arrows. You follow the red arrows. And I think if we were to do, and this is me thinking out loud right now, I mean, Every polling site is different and different rules. I get it. You know, the polling sites want, they don't want certain stuff on their buildings, and I get all that stuff. But if we could, and just hypothetically just think it. using the arrows, maybe a green arrow versus a red arrow, you know, just saying, or, you know, early voting drop off with a red arrow or a green arrow, stuff like that. Um, tense work. I know the red arrow we use to kind of guide people on, on very, especially when we use like, like large, campuses like let it be a school large comprehensive campus where they're huge and trying to find your way to the polling size we use those red arrows and those arrows work i mean for me i would follow the red arrows but kind of going along the same thought that that mr galvin said maybe maybe using arrows but like a green arrow and a red arrow or something i don't know it's me thinking out loud so

madam chair happy to look into that i will say the signs started off being quite simple and as you go through different iterations of what they have to mean to people at different points and wanting poll workers to get used to using the same signs and not accidentally putting the wrong side out sign out you just end up having to add information and add information so we're happy to to revisit long term uh a better way but for the primary this is where they're at and and madam chair one more i'm sorry i don't want to

we're here we're but i think this is important it's important for us to have this discussion i think it's so critical to have that greeter there in front and not just at the door but kind of with the with all our voters that are coming in welcoming them thanking them for coming and participating in this very important process but having someone a live person out there i think is really critical let it be the marshal the clerk whoever job that is, I think that's critical. So on those polling sites, Scott, you know which ones are going to be busy. You know, like the back of your hand, you know, which sites, you mentioned certain sites that you would love to have a polling site there. So we already know which sites potentially are going to have a large number of voters coming in. We know, you know, just historic numbers. And those sites, if we can have someone just out there. If we can have a greeter, and I think we are going to have a greeter on all of them for the most part, but to have someone just regularly out there, especially in those critical hours, just standing out there greeting them and pointing them, I think that goes a long ways.

Mr. Stewart. Thank you. Yeah, I'd like to unpack this a little bit more. You'd mentioned a little bit ago, Zach, that you've been advised against giving direction at the polling locations. Can you give me a little bit more background on that?

Madam Chair, Supervisor Stewart, without breaking privilege, we've consulted MCAO about the concept of talking to individual voters about this. And I think just from a broad elections rule of thumb, you want to treat all voters the same. And so if there's an opportunity to miss a voter and not convey that same amount of information, that is what we're trying to guard against is missing voters and then them not. understanding so that's why we have these signs here and i think it's it's helpful to have folks you know help with wayfinding but what we don't want to get into is having detailed individual conversations uh with voters when they come up to the to the vote center unless they decide to step away and ask a question right that the proactive uh solicitation i think is is what can come up with that process so so zach i think what my colleagues thank you madam chair i think what my colleagues and i i think i'm inclined to

feel the same way is that if we have a greeter or a docent or whatever you want to call it in front when somebody comes to them and asks them, hey, you know, what's all this signage mean? Is that the impetus for them to be able to, will that give them the opportunity then to share, okay, you go this way, you go that way. We're not telling them how to vote or anything like that. Is that where we're being advised against doing? No, Madam Chair, Supervisor Stewart, I want to be clear that it is in Scott's plan that we have

a poll worker there who can hand out information about the new process, right, and to be available to help people understand that. It's merely the proactive solicitation of have you seen this new process that we're trying to shy away from. But having somebody who can be a customer service rep essentially right there by the sign, handing out the one-pager that we already have produced that can help people make that decision, do I stand in line to check in, to tabulate, or do I proceed to the front? That's exactly the plan.

I appreciate that, Zach, and that's super important. I agree with my colleagues 100%. We need to have somebody, especially at the busy times, in front that's giving direction if people ask for it. Where do I go? I don't think they necessarily need to be doing what TSA does, is get your laptop out of the bag and take your shoes off. But they certainly need to be available at those busy times. Do we have the budget to be able to man that for every location of the 260 that we'll have?

So Madam Chair, Supervisor Stewart, we've expanded the number of poll workers at each voting location by three to accommodate for this new process. So one on election day to assist with the tabulators, because there's some nuances now with this new process with the tabulators, additional staff member to assist with check-in, and then this additional greeter that will be standing at the door. And then we'll still have the individual that's walking the line, right, and counting it every 15 minutes, but just monitoring to see if there's any questions. But again, I think for this primary election, if we go back to history, there are going to be very few lines, even on election day and even at our busiest locations. They get to be a couple minutes long, right? And so there aren't going to be really any lines forming. There will be some busy locations that will have those, and even those locations where we've expanded from our standard footprint of eight check-in stations to 12 check-in stations, we have additional poll workers, right, that are above and beyond. So we'll be ready. This will be a really great election. We'll learn a lot from it, but I'm confident that voters are going to have a good experience. And the other piece to it is, it's the same, right? So if you go back to 2024, we had these three pathways. One line for everyone who was checking in, one for voters that wanted to skip and drop it off, and another one for voters to leave. We're still doing that exact same process here. It's just now adding this new option for voters to be able to check in. And I did want to highlight, and that's what this slide does, is some of our different voting locations and some pictures from outside of it. One is in Whitman. Another is in Queen Creek and another one's up in North Scottsdale. And these are the types of locations where you see there's not big, large sidewalks. And we could go and find dozens and dozens and dozens of other locations that will have Similar type situations, but different, unique, right? And there's just not enough space to add two different lines of people standing, another thorough pathway for a voter to skip it, and then another pathway for voters to exit, especially if you have to consider wheelchairs and other types of things. It's just not practical or feasible. So that's why we've created this process, and it will be an efficient process for voters. Thank you, Scott.

So, Madam Chair, we will have that customer service agent at all the locations to be able to communicate if people have questions. That will be standing out in front 24-7 or however the location is open. That's just all I'm curious about. Or is it something we need to circle back on?

So, Madam Chair, Supervisor Stewart, members of the board, the plan is not to have them standing at the end of the lines. Right. It's to have them standing as voters would enter the voting location. But then they could walk the line as needed.

I think that's where I'm missing it. So to Chairman's point, if somebody stands in a line and they don't know why they're in the line, they get all the way to the door and then, oh, you could have just went here. That's going to cause that frustration. And so I'd love to explore this a little bit more for sake of time and to get through this because I have a number of other questions. Let's pin this and see if we can make something like that happen. Thank you.

I'm sorry, man. circle back around to Supervisor Stewart. Because historically, and correct me if I'm wrong, guys, historically, elections always had someone there. I always thought it was the marshal, but I could be wrong. But there was always someone there. So in those key areas, do I think we need someone there? You know, for the entire length of time, no. Because there's not going to be a line. They're not. But there are certain polling sites, and that's where I defer to the experts, because they know. Certain polling sites that they know are going to have a large number of voters. They know it's going to be either in the mornings or in the evenings. Those time periods, I think, it's critical. Not critical, but I think it would be important to look at making sure we do have someone as that greeter, let it be a clerk or whoever, be that person standing, kind of helping navigate. And that's what I would defer to you all. You tell me which sites you believe should have that special attention. And it's not all of them. It's not. But there are certain key locations.

And Madam Chair, Supervisor Garrido, I do want to make sure that it's not lost, that this Marshall board worker... who will be walking the line, counting, updating the time estimate, they know to go out there when a line forms. They know to go out there when folks are standing at the sign to potentially take advantage of this new system. So they might not be physically standing at the end of the line at all times, but I think they'll be roaming and they're trained to know to go out to proactively chat with somebody, to go online and say, hey, if you're here with your late early, you can proceed. unless you're here to check in. So those conversations will be happening. I just don't think we'll have somebody physically planted at the end of the line 24-7, but they'll use their judgment as the line ebbs and flows.

And not to beat a dead horse, I was just counting up the number of general elections I've worked since I got into politics, and it was actually before I got into politics, 14. So to Mr. Gallardo's point, there is an ebb and a flow. And usually it's before work, there's a little bit of a crowd that shows up at lunchtime, and then there's a huge crowd on election day on the way home from work, and depending on the polling site. I have spent a lot of time the last several years up at Paradise Valley Community Center which I describe as a super regional voting center because it's nuts. And so just depending on where you are you're going to find that and you have to give your poll workers your marshal your docent whatever you have to give them the flexibility to do what they think is best to manage the crowd and manage expectations. The reason I talked about line cutters is because everybody who's waiting in line to vote, the guy that goes whistling by with his ballot, there can be some acrimony there. So at any rate, Madam Vice Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think it's important for the public to know why we're taking so much time on this item. Maricopa County, I think probably the biggest misconception that people have nationwide is that we're doing something wrong in Maricopa County and that's why it takes so long to get the results. In reality, what's happening is we have so many people that request a mail-in ballot and then don't mail it back. And so what they do, we have hundreds of thousands of people that wait till election day and then have their green ballot and they drop it off in the drop box. And then the recorder has to do signature verification. And then this ballot bipartisan ballot processing team has to take, you know, the ballot out of the envelope and they have to look at it and make sure it's right. That just takes a long time. Also, it's important for people to know that we're not the one calling elections. It's the media that calls the elections. And the reason that they don't do it is because now we're a swing state. And so we're a swing state. If we were a total Republican state or a total Democrat state, the media would call it because they know, oh, the outstanding ballots are going to be 60% Republican or whatever the case may be. But we're now a swing state. So they don't call it. The media doesn't call it. And with hundreds of thousands of people not returning their mail-in ballot that they requested and instead dropping it off on the day of election, none of those hundreds of thousands get counted on election night. It's like days and like a week or two weeks later that this stuff gets counted. And so that's why the state legislature passed this new law that goes into effect this year, this election in 2026. And basically it gives the option, it does not say shall, it says a voter may, if they decide not to mail back their ballot and instead show up on election day, they may take their, you know, show their ID, take their ballot out of the envelope and put it through a tabulator so that the results are instantaneous. The results will be done right away instead of waiting a week or days or two weeks for all this processing to happen. And so this is new, right? And so what I would ask of the of Scott and Zach is that you keep us updated on what's happening on the ground during the primary, because this is new for voters. And I believe this process was in place in the Tempe jurisdictional election And we had some people that were trying to inform people, oh, you know, this is a new law. You can do this. You have to show ID. And some voters pushed back, right? And they're like, what do you mean I've got to show ID? I just want to drop off my ballot, you know? paraphrasing what these people said. And so we have to be careful and that's why I think you've come up with these signs to just try to inform people. I myself am going to tell my constituents through my newsletter and other social media that there's this new law that's available to them. And I think it's up quite frankly to the political parties and or the candidates themselves, if they want election results faster, that they promote this new law and educate the voters. But I am curious how this is going to work. And so just keep us updated, because I think we can change things after the primary election if we see that there's some ways we can make it better for the general election. And with that, I yield back. Thank you. Please proceed.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and for all those comments. We'll definitely keep you updated. So this next slide talks about our in-person voting options. We already covered we'd have 237 voting locations for this primary election, which is an increase over prior elections, and then 255 to 260 for the general election. How we look to place these, we use voting history where in-person voters have voted before. If they voted in person for the last several election cycles, we plot on a heat map where they live. And then that helps us identify where we should place or if we have a gap in having voting locations. We also make sure that we serve our rural communities. So that'd be the Aquilas, the Gila Bands, Gatka Village, small little voting location. We don't want those voters to have to commute long distances to be able to vote. So even though there might not be a lot of in-person voters there, We still want to make sure that they have access. We also overlay our maps with light rail, public transportation to make sure we have voting locations to serve voters, maybe if they don't have a vehicle. So a lot of analysis goes into identifying the right places to have voting locations. This slide also shows that we will be having a phased opening approach, right? So the recorder's office will be offering those early voting locations. I mentioned 16 open this morning. There'll be a next phase that will open 11 days before election day. That'll be consistent with the general election. Then when we get to emergency voting weekend, that's if a voter is having an issue that would prevent them from voting on election day, they can show up during emergency voting. So we'll have a range from 87 to 95 more voting locations above the prior phases, and then we'll land on 237 on election day.

Madam Chair. I think it's just good to stop right here at this moment if we can bring that slide back because you provided a very detailed analysis of the reasons why these locations are selected and implemented we have seen in the previous election cycles a few people not a lot but mainly on social media make allegations that there's some partisan reasons for why these sites are selected. First of all, you cannot utilize a site unless the site themselves agree to host a site. And you were just talking just earlier how we just lost one last week. So every single cycle, every single election cycle, you know, we add some, we lose some. But at the same time, you can't force anyone to host a polling site. But two, look at the considerable number we have polling sites we have throughout the county. And three, all of the reasons that Mr. Jarrett just provided as the impetus and the underlying basis for why we have these sites. It's not like someone is just deciding to do them on a partisan basis and just say, you know, we're just going to throw a bunch here to help one side or the other. So not many people are watching today, but I just want to put it out there, Madam Chair, that in case anyone makes these allegations, not just next month, but especially November, that sites were carefully selected to hurt one candidate or help another. It's not the case. This is now being discussed in an open forum, in a public setting, and you have provided the reasons why these sites are selected, and mainly it's to reflect the local population and the local traffic count. Correct? Madam Chair, Supervisor Galvin. Perfectly said. Okay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Please continue. Madam Chair, members of the board, this slide shows our website that is a fantastic tool for voters to be able to find their closest voting location. If they are not signed up to receive a ballot by mail, we will also be sending them a sample ballot. And so that sample ballot will have, if they're an independent voter, all their different options that they're able to select. but it will show them their closest election day voting location. So in 2024, we had nearly 500,000 voters show up and vote at a voting location or drop off their ballot at a voting location. And we did have at our star call center, a couple hundred inquiries about where could a voter find their closest loading voting location. So this is a very well tested, website that allows voters to have that easy access, has little flags that says whether the voting location is open or closed. You can click on that location. It'll expand out, and you can see all the hours that are available for that voter, that they're open for the entire cycle. In addition to this, on this website, we also have an Excel spreadsheet that you can download all the voting locations. It has all their hours available to them. And then this is where voters can use information to identify what is that wait time. It will show when was the last time that wait time was updated. Was it five minutes ago? Was it 10 minutes ago? How many voters are standing in line? And what is that calculated wait time?

Mr. Galvin.

Let me repeat that. I'm going to have a few more points and questions to highlight as we go through this. Once again, I'm going to kind of bring back things that have been waged against us in previous election cycles. Most of our members here in this board have not been part of this, but I have the bruises on my back to show that I have been. I don't remember exactly, but I remember distinctly that the last cycle there were some conspiracy theories about this, about how we were indicating which locations were open or not open, Mr. Scherer, Mr. Jarrett. Do you remember what I'm getting at? And if so, were there any changes made to this tool or to this website to address that or to further clarify how it works? Because I remember some of those allegations were absolutely ridiculous. But I remember if you looked at the website itself, it was able to help advance those conspiracy theories and false allegations. If you can help shed light on that and see if there's anything we can do. to prevent that this time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Madam Chair, Supervisor Galvin, if my memory serves me, the issue people took with this website was that in the moment you looked, so say you would have looked a couple days ago before early voting started, it would have shown all of those locations as closed given that at that date and that time those locations weren't operating that day. It would have been like looking up Chick-fil-A on a Sunday if you look at all the pins on a map, it's going to show Chick-fil-A closed on Sunday because they're not open. So much like that, I think some individuals were screenshotting the whole map and showing all of those locations closed when we weren't operational for elections. But when you get to the day that you have all the locations operating on election day, that's when you'll see all of them have their little open flag and you can click on them to find hours of operations. This is important because during Early voting were contracted with these these sites and during early voting. There's no statutory requirement for a location to be open for a certain period of time. And so some locations like this Friday will have city and town clerk's offices that are always closed on Fridays that won't be open for early voting. So it's important if you go on Friday and you look up those 16 sites that day that it shows you in real time what's open and what's not in that moment. And so we've not, to my knowledge, made any changes to this. I think Scott's point about the small number of requests for where do I vote is evidence that people are going to this website to find their closest voting location. Some of those other features are that you can put in your address and see which locations are closest to you. And so I think we found that this tool, despite some issues that people have taken with it, is very effective. Madam Chair, to follow up. Please.

Do you believe or do our IT folks who compose these websites believe that perhaps maybe some tweaks or changes should be made? Because now it seems like there's another opportunity for those same allegations to pop up again during the same election cycle.

Madam Chair, Supervisor Galvin, I think tweaks to this site during this time period would be, we're within our blackout period. We wouldn't want to make tweaks to the site now. But maybe perhaps before the general. Well, I've not heard any consensus agreement that this website has issues to address.

No, I know that. I know that. I'm just worried about opportunities for exploitation or misrepresentation. And I think that's what happened last time. And you did a really good job explaining it. Um, and you've done everything right, but I just don't want to provide cannon fodder for these folks because it's very easy to put a screenshot out there that's very misleading and all of a sudden it gets a thousand retweets and all of a sudden the five offices here are fielding questions about it from constituents because they saw something online or they heard something online. So it's always about to me about being proactive to get ahead of whatever the issue was last time. Because frankly, It worked for a lot of these folks. They get a lot of clicks. They get a lot of followers. They monetize these social media accounts. They get money in their pockets. And so I just want to foreclose, if we can, any opportunities for mischief.

Madam Chair, may I? County Manager. May I add something to Supervisor Galvin's question? I recall one of the issues that occurred last time was with a mailer, I believe, not from our office, that just gave some general information about early voting sites. And so people had thought all early voting sites would have the same hours, but cities, for example, were open different times. So that was addressed in subsequent elections, if I recall. by just adding more specific information to a mailer that went out, if I recall.

Right. That was another issue. OK. Thank you.

I think I made my point. Madam Chair, and I think Mr. Galvin brings up a good topic. And I'm not afraid to talk about it. Unfortunately, we have folks within our community that are going to do everything they can to try to uh to to really falsify stuff i mean the conspiracies of the false statements we see constantly on social media these are the shenanigans that unfortunately we haven't had to deal with as a county prior to 2020.

We haven't.

But since then, it's these nonstop shenanigans, false statements that are thrown out on social media. And Supervisor Govan is absolutely correct. They get in a gazillion, you know, shares and they keep getting all these likes and stuff and they're false. And I've always said this, the best thing that elected officials and community leaders can do is tell the voters the truth. Period. You're always going to have the adversaries out there constantly. And let's call them what they are. They're election deniers. They don't want to even understand the truth. They're not interested. They want to push out the false statements, the false narratives. They're doing everything they can. So when they do stuff like that, and we're going to see it. I guarantee we are going to see it this year. We're going to see it. Let it be polling sites. Let it be something else. There's going to be something that is posted out there that is false and just BS. and unfortunately they are going to get the number of tweets so i totally agree with mr galvin we do whatever we can to try to mitigate what you know what has happened in the past but i guarantee you we're going to see these constant misstatements these false allegations just just bs constantly on the social media and it's just unfortunate haven't had to deal with it until 2020 but now it's unfortunately just something we deal with every election cycle

Some summarized Twitter doesn't mean it's true. Please continue.

Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board, and for that very thoughtful feedback, and we'll definitely consider it as we're moving forward. So this slide shows our command center operations. So we have a in-person command center that's supporting all in-person voting from the first time that they well, when we begin setting those locations up all the way through Election Day. The screenshot is actually taken showing from the 2024 election cycle showing when voters are checking in, when the last time a wait time was reported at a voting location. If it's been more than 30 minutes, we can call out to that voting location proactively and say, you may have forgotten to report that wait time, please do so. If we start seeing that on election day at 530 in the morning, poll workers aren't checking in, right, and logging into their check-in stations. It's an indicator that maybe they're locked out. So we can be proactively calling. We can call the facility to make sure that they're sending someone to open up the voting location. So this is a very proactive tool to make sure that we're supporting those voting locations and that they're able to remain operational through early voting, emergency voting, and election day. I do want to highlight one thing that we've added for the selection cycle is it monitors actually the toner levels in each of our ballot-on-demand printers. So now, as we're progressing through the day, we can proactively look at and see, okay, what are those toner levels? Are they getting low? Do we need to send out a T-TEC in advance of them dropping below a certain point? They've been open for an early voting period, and they've been working for two days, and now we've sent out a printer that was at 100%. and now it's down to 50%, we can send out a T-TEC on the Friday before election day to get it back up to being 100% as we head into election day. So these are just examples of ways that we're constantly leaning into and trying to improve to make sure the voters have the best voting experience in Maricopa County. Madam Chair.

Mr. Stewart. Thank you, Scott. I really appreciate you saying that because when we get feedback from the community or from poll workers, about the voter experience or the customer experience, it's a really great opportunity for us to be better at what we do. Like we had, we've had situations where we don't know the unknown, right? And then we find out after the fact, and then we are able to turn around and fix that. But being proactive when we get feedback from the community is wonderful. And I appreciate that you guys and the team as well as the Recorder's team are taking this feedback and say, okay, Here's one thing we can do a little bit better to improve the experience. So thank you for bringing that forward. And on the toner thing, I remember that happening when I was on council. I remember that happening down on Chandler Heights Road. And I walked in, and the lady that was running the polling location said, oh, my gosh, we're out of toner ink. And I said, oh, my gosh, how does that happen? But you guys are ahead of it, so I appreciate that. Thank you. Please proceed.

So we do have our Get Involved site. So this is where if members of our community want to come out and support elections, we're thrilled to have you get involved. I do want to report that we're up well over 95% for early voting locations. Hiring, we're over 80% for our election day voting locations. We're well ahead of target as we've compared to in the past. And at our central counting facility, we're at 95% hired as well, so really great progress. The one area that we do have a shortage is we do really leverage and rely on county employees to come support elections, and on election night, going out to the voting location and helping those poll workers count those early ballots. So if the voter doesn't choose to have their ballot tabulated, they do drop it in a drop box. State law requires that we do a count of those green affidavits on election day. And we have our county employees go out there and assist us. They'll also assist us at our receiving sites as we're bringing everything in from Election Day and at McTech as we're processing all of the equipment and ballots that are coming back. And we're about 50% hired for our county employees. So I know the chair, the county manager have sent emails out highlighting this, but really make that plea for those county employees. Come get, you can get some civic duty leave So get the time off on election day or the day after, and you can get a little bit of extra pay maybe that you can use on your summer vacation trip. And the last thing I wanted to highlight is just election results and reporting results. And so every time that we post results, well, the first post will be at 8 PM on election night. That will be all the early ballots that have been tabulated to that point. Usually we'll include everything through that Friday or Saturday prior to Election Day. There might be a handful or small numbers that are going in that the Recorder's Office is still doing some signature verification and have to go through processing. But typically in a primary, we pretty much clear the queue on Election Day. We're just waiting for those ballots that are being dropped off on Election Day. When we post those results, we will also have a press release, social media posts that will alert the public of how many ballots we have outstanding. Well, we won't know at 8 p.m. on Election Day, right? But as we go through on Wednesday and we post results, we'll be able to provide an update. This is how many are still, provisional ballots still left to be researched. These are how many are still in the recorder's office for curing. These are the ones that are still in pre-tabulation processing being removed from the affidavit envelopes to be very transparent of where we are as we progress through the counting process. But the one thing I really wanted to highlight and Supervisor Lesko or Vice Chair Lesko made my point earlier, right? There is this misconception that we are counting ballots slow in Maricopa County or slower than what we had in the past because Our residents don't know the results. And really the reason why the voters don't know those results, it is a little bit of a change in voting behavior. We have more voters that are choosing to drop off their ballot on election day. But it is those close, close contests. When we have close contests that are only separated by a few hundred votes or a few thousand votes, and if there are thousands of ballots in a curing process, No media outlet is going to call those results, right? So it's just going to take time. And the recorder's office, from my understanding, is they make a very robust effort to contact those voters. But once they've contacted the voters, it's really in the voters' hand to then reach back out to the recorder's office to cure that signature or to provide sufficient ID for a provisional ballot. So we're waiting for those voters, and those voters have a statutory ability for five days, right? So we won't be posting final results until after that cure period, which will then be on that Monday or Tuesday after that cure period lapses. But I do want to highlight, we will be having night shifts, especially in the general election. We are ready to implement night shifts in the primary election if needed. Not sure if they'll be needed based on the volume, but we're ready to do that to try to get results published as quickly as possible.

Thank you.

Let's wrap up with some questions, starting with Vice Chair Lesko and then Supervisor Geller. Thank you, Madam Chair. In 2022, there were some printer problems. And so there was a lot of, especially I heard from people in the Northwest Valley that were poll workers and they were very frustrated with what went on. So my question is, In this election, do we have any new tabulators, any new printers, any new paper, any new pens that we are using that are different than from the past that we need to perhaps be worried about? And the reason I ask this is because we have this new law, and so you're going to have different tabulators, it's my understanding, for the people that bring in their green mail-in envelopes and decide to election day and decide to take them out of the ballot and put them through these tabulators they're going to be different tabulators than the other tabulators and so are these new are we going to have to worry about any you know new things that that might not work

So Madam Chair, all the equipment that we're currently using is equipment that's been used before. So we have, the board did award and we did buy additional tabulators, but they're the same type of tabulators that we are currently using. and we go through a very robust stress testing process of all of our tabulation equipment, including our printers, including our check-in stations, all of those, to make sure that they can function and work in a variety of elements and situations at our voting locations. So all of our equipment has gone through that stress testing for this election.

Thank you.

Mr. Gallagher. Okay. First of all, a message for my new colleagues here. After election day, you're going to get bombarded with text messages and phone calls from folks asking you when the next results are going to come out. It's just going to happen. What I have to do is I can set it by time. Tuesday night, polls close. People understand we're not going to get the results. Wednesday, you're still in the afterglow of the election. People are getting a little bit curious and wondering when the next drop is going to happen. But by Thursday, especially Thursday evening, almost 48 hours after polls close, people get really twitchy. And that's when things kind of just get here in Arizona. That's when the East Coast starts paying attention and says things like, what's wrong with Arizona? What's happening in Arizona? So for my colleagues, and Steve knows this, you're going to get bombarded with folks. asking you when the next ballot drop is going to be. So I'm going to ask you a question now on behalf of my constituents, because this is a question I get a lot. So this is not a question from me, but a question I hear from folks. How come we don't have a set time for when we release results? Because we have a set time for when polls close, and then, you know, there's a lot of people who follow certain reporters on Twitter who say things like Maricopa incoming, but it seems like to be it's haphazard. One day it's 8 p.m., another day it's 9 p.m. Sometimes they hear, oh, it's incoming. Then they hear, oh, it's not going to come right now, but it's going to come later. Can you please walk us through, let's say for one example, we don't have a set time in the morning that everyone know they can set their clock to it. Hey, Maricopa County is going to release results at 11 a.m. every morning and 8 p.m. every evening or whatever it may be. Because that's another thing that we get a lot as well, especially from the campaigns and from the candidates themselves.

Thank you, Madam Chair, Supervisor Galvin. It's a great question and we certainly hear all those calls and receive all those messages as well from interested parties. What we do is on election night we send out a press release after results are posted and we usually set some sort of, you know, every evening for every day after election day is when we will post results. The reason that we say evening instead of a specific time is because The batches of ballots that get signature verified, processed, and then sent to tabulation, it ebbs and flows in terms of the volume, right? It's not just a static process. And so what we want to do is we want to provide the biggest, most impactful number of ballots to report each and every evening. And so if we say 5 p.m. every evening or 6 p.m. every evening, And then we don't get to report 20 or 30 more thousand votes on Thursday. We don't want to deprive the public of potentially a race being called on Thursday instead of a Friday. And so we try to provide ourselves from flexibility. We're never going to post super late into the evening. We're usually in between that 6 to 8 p.m. period. But just the volume ebb and flow of what Our team gets from the recorder's office and then can process and get to tabulating. It's important to provide us some flexibility so that we can post as many results as possible each and every night, hoping that then, you know, individuals in the media and on the outside can call races for those who are interested.

Okay. Thank you. And Madam Chair, one more question. Please. Supervisor Lesko brought a great point about all the different equipment. And obviously some of us lived through the 2022 election, which for me was the worst day since I've been here. as a supervisor, and I apologize to our constituents over and over and over again. What it turned out to be was what they call the improper heat fuses on the printers. It was not a toner ink issue, but they were not making the black ink in the corners of the ballots hot enough for it to be read by the tabulators. And what I want to remind people is that we have these tabulators as a convenience for the voters, right? We don't have to have tabulators on site, correct? One word answer. Correct, correct. But we also have redundancies and fail-safes, and we also have what was called door number three. And so this is very important for voters to know, because in many other counties, you're just dropping off your ballot, you're walking away. You are not putting your ballot in a tabulator. I'm going to call out one county, I think Pinal County, it's that situation, right? They don't have tabulators on site. And I'm not criticizing Pinal County, but it's a choice. But at the same time, because of technology, we have this availability for voters. So I want voters to know for whatever reason, God forbid, something happens at your polling site and you're not able to put your ballot through a tabulator for whatever reason, because God only knows what can happen. We're all at the emergency machines. Just talk to the printer at my house. It never works when I need it. That you can still place your ballot in that equipment because it'll be transported downtown. Because what's important here in Arizona is everyone votes on a paper ballot. A lot of people say, oh, they use voting machines, not just in Arizona and other states. We don't have voting machines, only on rare occasions if you have a disability. But here in Arizona, you're voting by paper. Many other states, you literally vote on a touchscreen, which I would not want to do. I think even Florida has that. But here in Arizona, everyone votes on paper. So either you can vote by paper and have that ballot go through the tabulator, which just means it's helping us count quicker because that's the other aspect. People want faster results, but they also want accuracy and they also want security. So if you want to get all three, but for whatever reason, if you cannot place your paper ballot in the tabulator, it can still be placed in that equipment and it will still be counted. Correct? That's correct. Okay, with the caveat that everything should work out well, because that's what people expect of us. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the rundown there. You know, I got text messages from Missouri in 2022, so it is something that people are mindful of. And Supervisor Lesko hit the nail on the head. I think we've all been talking about this. We're going to have another double ballot. in the general election that just takes time, but hopefully we will expedite results as quickly as we can. A couple questions I've got. I noticed that, and we've talked about this before, but the overall expenditure for this particular election is about $10 million more than it was in the past. Can you talk a little bit about what that's being used for and how that's being divvied up for this customer experience?

Madam Chair, Supervisor Stewart, so that is a product of a few different items. Some is just minimum wage increasing in Arizona. Every time, given the large number of the workforce of poll workers and central boards, the sheer number of hours that they end up working, when minimum wage goes up 55 cents, right? That could be a several hundred thousand, if not a million dollar increase just for minimum wage. Also our central boards trying to keep up with paying what other like similar type employers pay here in central Phoenix. So again, that just that increase there, it could be another 500 to a million dollars. Just those types of increases. But other types of things are preparing and budgeting for, you just mentioned it, a two-page ballot. So now when we have a separate piece of paper, that's an additional million-dollar cost that wasn't budgeted for because we weren't going into 2024 knowing that we were going to have to have a two-page ballot. So those types of things and expenditures. But the big one was for that additional tabulators that will be on site at our voting locations. So that was the biggest capital cost or purchase that the board made.

And how much of the budget is for early voting? Because what I was noticing in the numbers here, and I think I addressed this a while back, 3% to 11% of people actually take advantage of the early voting option. What's the share of spend to run those sites for as long as we do? And is there an opportunity to save money later if we can change sort of that window? A month-long voting seems... when nobody uses it at the beginning?

So Madam Chair, Supervisor Stewart, none of those costs are included in the budget that the Elections Department submitted. Those were all costs that were included in the Recorder's Office budget. So they'd be the ones that would need to answer that question.

So we had a large increase of $10 million, but the majority of that expense is on early voting? Just help me understand.

I'm not sure if it was the majority, but the Recorder's Office had their own budget request for those early voting locations. And they'd be able to provide you the specifics about how much it costs for each one of those sites.

Thank you. And so you bring up a good point about the recorders, what they do, what we do. Are you guys working with the recorders' leadership? And like this presentation, did they have any input in this? Are you guys, in spite of everything that's going on, are you guys still working together well?

Madam Chair, Supervisor Stewart, they didn't have any input into this presentation given that this was just our plan, but per the Resolution and the coordination that's happened since then, despite everything that's going on, staff is working well together. They have staff in our command center that we're coordinating with for this period of early in-person voting that is statutorily theirs. And so I believe that staff is working well together. I'm grateful for that. Thank you.

Thank you. I think that concludes all the questions. Thank you.

No, I just want to say thank you so much for the work that you all have put this election together and just the slew of men and women that are in the election department working. Just thank you so much. And I don't put a price tag on the most fundamental right we have, the right to vote. I don't put a price tag. However, if you want to lower the cost of an election and increase voter participation, let's talk about all-mail ballot elections. Legislature won't do it, not because it's a cost saving or it's going to increase voter participation, because what goes on in the legislature, it's not based on what's in the best interest of voters. It's who's going to benefit from it. And that's unfortunate, and that's the partisan politics that we see not only at the legislature, but in Washington as well. Instead of looking at what's the best way to deal with elections in terms of making it available. Again, the most fundamental right we have, the right to vote. And I would never put a cost or price tag on it. It is just a right that every eligible voter should have that opportunity. We in Arizona have a very, very robust early voting system. We led the country in early voting. Right there, I think it was Colorado or one of those other states that kind of went down the road of vote centers and it was, ooh, the biggest taboo. What has it done? It has reduced the number of provisional ballots. It has. It has been a huge plus in making sure that qualified voters had their votes cast. So I commend all the work that you all have done. We have a great system. Unfortunately, as Mr. Delvin pointed out as well, there's going to be There's going to be some false statements put on social media. Anything from Door 3 is a ballot box, period. It is a ballot box. But the perception or what folks put out on social media that it was some conspiracy to hide ballots or do something, no, it's a ballot box. We just actually call it Door 3, but it's a ballot box. Or wouldn't we have the Sharpie gate, the most stupidest false statement that was ever put out on the Sharpie markers? So unfortunately, that's what we're going to have to deal with in this election. We have folks coming to our podium every board meeting, continuing to want to debate 2020, continue to put false statements, false narratives. Unfortunately, that is the world we're dealing with right now in Maricopa County and throughout the country when it comes to elections. But I do believe our system we have right here, not only in Arizona, but across the country, it's a system that is safe, secure, accurate, very transparent. And we should do everything we can to ensure that every voter has that right to cast that ballot. And so I thank you for the great work you have done. I look forward to a wonderful primary election and a wonderful general election, as we have always had. So thank you so much.

Thank you. We do have some public speakers. Before I proceed to a vote and include my comments into the mix, Madam Clerk, let us hear from our speakers.

Yes, I will call on the first three speakers, Noah James Markham in favor, Juan Mendez in favor, followed by Veronica Corcoran.

We need to approve 107A. This, because primary and general election is very close. And also, let's get straightened out. This is President Donald Trump. And maybe President Donald Trump has something to do with this. Stay strong. Stephen Miller, conservative president. a legal group america first legal is representing maricopa county recorder jesse in an ongoing power struggle against the maricopa county board of supervisors also i would like to talk about accessibility with people with disabilities This is a necessity to these voter centers. We should have a separate line for us. And I told Justin Heap about this accessibility for people with disabilities. We might need a voter card that has people with disabilities on it. And yes, you need to prove documents that you do have a disability so you can get that disability card. Mahalo. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Next up, Juan Mendez, followed by Veronica Corcoran, Blue Crawley.

Madam Chair, Board, Juan Mendez, first off, thank you for moving forward with the primary and general election plan. I wish we had finalized this weeks ago, but just going off the news, I can understand how hard some of the members have been to work with. And to Scott, thank you for the explanation of how the selection process for the voting sites works. It goes a long way to build back more trust in our elections, knowing that these voting sites are chosen based off of voting history, on heat maps, and convenience for the light rail, and bus routes, and all that kind of stuff, and not partisan politics. So that's really good. If I can use my comments to make questions, just further, Scott would want to learn more. There's 16 early voting sites. So how many are new? I'm guessing three or four. Where are the new ones? I guess, I mean, I can see the map, but I guess I don't have the reference to, you know, 2022 to know which ones are the new ones. And then Supervisor Stewart kind of got at my last kind of concern. It's, I guess, how much did Recorder Heap's office, or did he himself have in, moving forward in this plan in the last couple of days. If you could get a little more information on that, that'd be nice. Thank you. And again, thanks for moving forward.

Thank you. Do you have a note of the questions? And we will proceed and then go back and wrap up.

Ms. Corcoran. Thank you, board. I am saddened to see that you guys are focusing on very detailed election issues while not seeing the bigger picture, how machines are not the way to count our votes. Even tabulation, they can be manipulated, Tom, and we can actually prove this to you. Because sometimes, see, the reason I'm saying this, we need to go back to go forward. Sometimes going back, that's the only way to go forward. That's a fact. That's humanity. We won't make it unless we love one another. And so God can continue to bless our nation. We are not ATM tax machine money, but a fearfully and carefully made divine beings that deserve to be treated justly. Especially not and not dominated. Dominion machine was only changed name into liberty. They're playing us. I don't like that. Mr. Gallardo, I challenge you to prove that Biden won Arizona. Remember, Fox called election after only 2% were counted. Mr. Lesko, try to learn that early voting ballots are not the way to make it better, but I challenge the man who is overseeing this election, Mr. Scott Jarrett, to look into hand-counting states. You're saying it's not effective, and it's expensive, and impossible to done. That's a lie. It's the truth. It's quite opposite. The average size of our precincts of $1,000, I'm sorry, 1,000 votes and hand counting system is super easy, effective, and cheap, and exciting. People can trust votes. The most precious official document, our vote, cannot be manipulated by machine. We are the finely made machine. Our votes are sacred. Please, the hand count system was actually tested recently, proven effective. It worked just fine. Before Venezuela was taken by smartmatics machine. And also, Mr. Jarrett, why, I will remind you of the machines. I have so many questions. I pray you come to realization that machines...

thank you mr crowley and then madam clerk after that after mr crowley followed by roger may vivian seraphine andy tithe thank you mr crowley i'd like to tell the chair that your voice is very pleasant on a sunday morning i woke up to it and i'm glad of everything that you had to say on sunday square off in fact All I want to say is what you did have to say, which put some clarity on this. As to the gentleman's statement about the handicap, every polling place, you can vote from your vehicle. If you are disabled, they will bring stuff to you. So all of those are already done. There is hand counting going on. That's when you bring your ballot and you put it in the thing so that they've got to check it. That's a hand count. And what does that do? That slows the whole thing down. And having been a poll worker from back in the 60s, reason they went to machines was the inability of people to count correctly in that. You had to have two individuals there, and they still would get it wrong. So I hear over and over again from Mr. Stewart and those aligned with him that Well, it wasn't that good in the past, and we've got to worry about the future. Well, the replacements that you are were very good in the past. The integrity of the board has always been above reproach, and I'm hoping that... with our president saying that, well, I'm not going to pass or sign any legislation until my little bill that says you can't do mail-in voting happens. He did that today.

I thought it was a safe response. Thank you. Appreciate your comments. I'll let my husband know.

All right. Madam Clerk, next up, Roger Mabe, Vivian Sedefine, and Andy Tide.

My name is Roger Mabe, agenda item 107, 2026 primary and general election plan. Good morning, supervisors. As you consider the 2026 election plan, I would like to address public confidence and public participation. Confidence in elections is strengthened when citizens understand the process, understand the rules, and believe those rules are being applied consistently. I have three questions. Can the board identify specific changes that have been made since the last election cycle to improve transparency and public confidence? Two, can the board identify how those improvements will be measured and reported to the public? If those measurements are not met, what corrective actions will be taken before future elections? Public confidence is not built simply by conducting elections. It is built through transparency, communication, and consistency, and the application of the process. As the board adopts this election plan, I encourage continued focus on those goals. Thank you. Thank you.

Madam Clerk. Vivian Serafine, Andy Tai.

Welcome. Good morning, chairwomen and board members. My name is Vivian Serafine. As someone who greatly relies on early voting measures, I'm glad this board made progress without County Recorder Justin Heath. My mother is a natural life citizen, and she is incredibly proud and grateful she can participate in our democracy. Last night, as we were sitting at the dinner table, she asked me if she would still be able to submit her early ballot. She was worried, knowing that MAGA influences are actively sabotaging tools that we rely on. I explained to her that she can, but we still don't know where the early vote centers will be located, and that we still have other options. Thankfully, I am there to be able to help guide her through this arduous process, but there are many who don't have that kind of support. Now that there are 16 early voting locations, I would love to have as much transparency as possible on where they are located, which are the new ones, and how others can find them as well. I would also appreciate strong efforts from the board to spread this message as far and wide as possible, making materials such as the video shown today as easily accessible and in plain sight on multiple platforms. We all deserve to have a smooth plan to submit our ballots. Thank you. Thank you. Madam Clerk.

Last speaker, Andy Tai.

Good morning, Supervisors. My name's Andrew Tai, and I'll be speaking on Agenda 107, you know, a couple of records. Maricopa County is one of the largest counties in the United States. Turkey has a bigger population than Maricopa County and they use paper ballots and their election results are done in one day. I think sometimes when we have problems that are facing us, we don't look for the easy solutions.

And sitting here today, I just heard an option about another mail-in ballot. So, you know, I just want to make sure that I understand this correctly.

I get a mail-in ballot, but now if I want to take that ballot down to the polling place, I can take it down and put it in a box. I just feel that you're really grasping and trying to make this thing perfect when the simple solution is sitting right in front of you. This can be done in a lot better way without these machines. And evidently, someone that got a mail-in dial thought, hey, I'd like to go down and see the poles. As an American citizen, I privilege my right. The only thing I didn't like is Arizona, this hot heat and stuff sometimes. I'm from Ohio. I'd love to go out and stand in line, talk to people, vote, and go on. That's a right and a privilege for every American citizen across our country. Thank you.

Thank you. That concludes public participation.

Madam Chair.

Mr. Galvin.

Can I just make a point to that comment we just heard? And I'll just be very succinct. Turkey has been led by a dictator for over a decade now. So regardless of the way that we run elections, I don't think that's a country to compare to. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Galvin. Moving right along, and seeing no further questions from the board, like to make some comments, I will make them. First of all, there were some questions that were asked by Mr. Mendez. If I could ask him, please, to leave his contact information or you to connect with him to get those answers, I'd appreciate it. We spent a long time on this item. And I think that would help expedite it. So Senator Mendez, if you would please. Madam Vice Chair, did you have a question or comment?

I do. Thank you, Madam Chair. There's been some comments today, and there's been comments in the past. And so I want to once again tell the public that if you want hand counting or if you don't want early voting, State law needs to change because the state law requires both of those. And so you're talking to the wrong person. You need to go to the state legislature. We are not allowed as county supervisors to not have early voting or have just hand count. We're not allowed. The state law tells us what we need to do. So if you want that changed, you need to get a law passed. And so I just keep repeating that because I keep hearing the same thing.

So, thank you Thank you Madam Vice Chair Moving right along the board will now consider item 107 to adopt the 2026 primary and general election plans Madam Vice Chair, is there a motion?

Thank you Madam Chair. I move that we approve Item number 107 to adopt the 2026 primary and general election plans. Thank you. Is there a second?

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Madam Clerk, request a roll call vote. Yes, Madam Chair. Supervisor Stewart.

Madam Chair, I'd like to explain my vote. Please. Thank you. So here's the good news is the elections team and the recorder team, as we heard today, are working together. to implement a voting plan, and they will execute against that voting plan. Everyone will be able to vote. They're either going to vote by mail. They're going to bring their mail-in ballot to the polling locations, show an ID, and run it through the tabulator. What we're asking and what we're hoping for is that people will get that done early or get that done on election day so we don't have this overwhelming number of early ballots that get dropped off on election day. That has been the biggest heartache within the county for some time where people are scratching their heads saying, what are they doing back there? Why is it taking so long? Because the nuance of our election system, the way that it's set up through the statute makes it I mean, frankly, it is a challenge for me to get up to speed when I joined this board as somebody that had followed our elections for a number of years. But we're going to have an election, and it's going to be run well. I'm very confident in the recorder staff. I'm very confident in the election staff to be able to execute against this. There may be some snafus, and we'll try to fix those as we come forward. But what we want to do is make sure we get feedback from the public, and we take that as an opportunity to be better. So when we hear these things that are coming from our poll workers or our judges or whatever that may be, these are good opportunities, just like a restaurant, right? If the bread's stale and you tell the manager, you can get fresh bread. We're gonna continue to try to do that here in Maricopa County. I'll be voting yes on this election plan because we need to move forward. We need to execute against our election coming forward. And I feel very confident that we will do a good job on that moving forward. There's so much more that I could say, but I will tell you this. Our legislature and our next governor need to define statutory responsibilities between the recorder and the Board of Supervisors. Because if there was not ambiguity in the statutes, we would not be in the situation we're in today. So I look forward to our legislature doing that in January. I look forward to the governor signing it, as well as bringing forward a bill that allows us to cut off early ballot drop-offs the Friday before, as we had talked about last session, so that we can get these results done on election night, 95-5. It was a great program, a great idea by Chairman Galvin in the last session. We need to do that again. And hopefully, we'll get that passed. But thank you very much, Madam Chair. I'll be voting yes.

Supervisor Galvin?

Madam Chair, I would like to explain my vote.

Please.

I'm also going to be voting yes, but I also want to say ditto to what Supervisor Stewart just had to say, and what Stewart, I'm sorry, Supervisor Lesko just had to say. It is very important for people to be reminded that election duties are bifurcated between the Board of Supervisors and the Recorder's Office. We have election duties, the Recorder's Office has election duties, and both of us, both offices together, have to work together to have the desirable outcome of good, safe, transparent, open elections. But it's not just Maricopa County. Just so we happen to be the valley where 4.6 million people live, all 15 counties have to deal with this. We don't make policy. We have to carry out state law. And I think Supervisor Stewart said that ably, and I think Supervisor Lesko made some really good points, which dovetails with my next comment, in which the governor yesterday I think was very disappointing in her answer about how we are dealing with this situation right now. Last year, we were sued by the recorder, Justin Heap. And I have said repeatedly, it's never in the interest of our voters or our constituents when one elected official is suing another. But when the governor was asked about this question, she laid blame at the feet of both sides. And this is not a he said, he said fight. This is us defending democracy and defending you, the constituents, and our voters. I also want to point out what I believe is to be a bigger fight and a bigger concern that I have is that right now our county attorney, Rachel Mitchell, is in a legal morass with our recorder, Justin Heap. And I want to bring everyone's attention to what the county attorney had to say in court because this is highly disturbing in which she sheds light on the recorder's recent actions. She filed in court just this month that he has hired a partisan law firm to carry out the duties and to run the recorder's office. And this is in the words of her court foiling. This partisan law firm has abused the limited ruling and used it as a launching pad for an unprecedented power grab. They have threatened to pursue criminal charges against the Board of Supervisors for establishing drop boxes. This partisan law firm is acting as a de facto deputy county attorney, which is illegal. And the county attorney currently suffers irreparable institutional harm from the usurpation of her statutory authority. And the public interest does not support county officials retaining personal private legal counsel for any matter generally falling within the officer's purview. So this underscores my disappointment with Governor Katie Hobbs and her inability or lack of capability to explain to her constituents, the entire state of Arizona, of what's at stake now. And so I ask her and urge her, if she doesn't know about this, to look into it urgently. I did call her chief of staff yesterday to express that information. Unfortunately, they didn't even call me back. but this is the situation we're dealing right now. We're on defense. We've never been on offense. We have been on defense every single day in defending our legal rights, defending the positions that we were elected to do on your behalf, but also the county attorney is also fighting this. This is a very disturbing development that has been played out over the past year. But what you heard today was a very professional, responsible presentation because the Board of Supervisors are committed and are serious to overseeing a good election, not just for the primary, but for the general. Because ultimately, we have to vote to canvas these elections, meaning that we have to vote to approve of how these elections were conducted. So my reminder to anyone interested in Arizona law is that the buck stops with us, and I want everyone listening and watching right now that the five members of the Board of Supervisors are committed to making sure that elections are run very well on your behalf. And it's because of our fantastic election workers and our fantastic election volunteers. This entire system depends on those people, not elected officials who have to fight in court. Thank you, Madam Chair. I vote aye.

Vice Chair Lesko. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to explain my vote. Please. Thank you, Madam Chair. One of the speakers today asked for transparency. And I think transparency is very important. And that's why we spent, what, over an hour right now detailing our election plan in front of the public for everyone to see, for the public to be able to come forward and comment on this election plan, which was posted. And I think that's very transparent. The way that this system is set up, it's the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is the only ones that have these public meetings. The county treasurer doesn't. The county recorder doesn't. The county assessor doesn't. And so I guess I call on Recorder Heap to come forward to the public and give us his election plan. I would like to see what he's planning to do. And I think that that would be very transparent if he did that. I also have called, the chair and I have called on Recorder Heap now several times, officially on May 20th, and then again on April 18th, I believe it was, I'm sorry, June 18th, for public, open, and or recorded meetings to negotiate how we're going to run this election together. And so an answer to this speaker today, who wants transparency, We do have transparency. We just sat here for over an hour discussing this election plan and allowed the public to comment on it before we voted. I call on our other elected officials to do so, including Recorder Heap. And with that, I vote aye.

Supervisor Gallardo? Thank you. Madam Chair, may I expand my vote? Please. Thank you. First of all, once again, thank you, Zach, Scott, and your entire team that are back in their offices working. I know what it takes. I've sat in that chair. I started, as I've always said, Started my adult career in the elections department. I was a newbie, understanding. And the one thing about elections, there are no courses. There are no degrees. You go in there. You study it. You learn the laws. You learn. what the policies are, and you do everything you can to ensure that our elections are safe, secure, and accurate, which they have always been. I believe, Madam Chair, we have the best election process in the entire country, right here in Maricopa County. A very robust system. A system that has early voting centers that reduces the number of provisional ballots like never before has come down so much. It has made voting so much more easier for folks, eligible voters, to be able to exercise that most fundamental right. their right to vote. And that is because Arizona has been on the forefront, particularly Maricopa County. We've been on the forefront on how we conduct elections. And so I am very pleased on the process we have. And as has been mentioned, it is safe, secure, accurate, and it is transparent. The number of tours you all were just talking about that continue to want to come in, you've expanded to multiple days now. That's transparency at its best. I would question half the folks that come up to the podium asking for transparency have never been down there. So I appreciate all the work you have done in making sure our elections are ready to go for the people of Maricopa County, particularly this primary, this general. And Mr. Gelman talked about being on defense. We have been on defense since 2020, all because one candidate lost Maricopa County. That's why we're on defense. And this has been going on for, what, now, six years? People still come to the podium bringing up 2020 election? You know, all the comments that are being made are false. They're based on conspiracies, false statements. They have never been proven. Never been proven. Let it be in the court of law. Let it be in public. They have never been proven. We have an election that is safe, secure, accurate. Voters are able to cast a number of different ways, either in person, in mail, on election day, multiple ways. Comments were made about folks with disabilities. Yes, we have a process. We have an election team that works just solely working with folks, let it be in an adult living facility, let it be in the hospital, let it be someone with limited mobility to be able to go out and let them vote. There is so much we do here in Maricopa County to ensure that voters have the opportunity, that access to the ballot box. But yet we have outside forces, particularly one that is supposedly representing our county recorder. that continue to push these false statements. Let's be honest, Justin Heap is not the counter recorder. It is American First Legal. They are the counter recorder. They are in control of that office. It ain't Justin Heap. He's been pushed aside. He's just a front man. There are outside forces that have taken over that office that are making decisions every day. You have a counter recorder with an executive team that have no clue on how to conduct an election. They have no idea. They've never done it before. When counter recorders get elected, and I've seen multiple, I started with Keith Politas. When county quarters get elected, they bring in professional staff, folks that have done it before. But when you surround yourself with just political hacks that have never ran an election, their only job is to be doing politics, and now they're actually driving the ship? That's who we have on the other side. I am very pleased with the process that you all have done for a number of years. I know the hard work. I've been there. I've been in the shoes. I know the work that has been put in order for us to just have an election for our primary and general election. It is a year-round process. It's nonstop. It's no different than like the Super Bowl. Once one election is over, boom, you start the next one. That's how much work is being done. And so I just kudos to all the hard workers that are there, men and women that just constantly and oftentimes get abused. You know, they get rocks thrown at them over just false statements. And we're going to see it again. We're going to see it. I already know it. It doesn't matter. We're going to see false statements. You're going to see conspiracies, everything. let it be let it be a sharpie gate again let it be door three let it be whatever but you're gonna yeah we're gonna see it but i think we have a responsibility madam chair to just tell the voters the truth we do where we're going to continue to have a process that's very robust they may not like the outcome of the election that's too bad a lot of times my candidate doesn't win But I trust the process. I believe in it. I know the process that has been placed right here in Maricopa County. Yes, I totally agree. There's some laws that need to be changed, no doubt. Legislature really needs to revamp. We had an item, number was it 53? The statewide database? That was part of the Help America Vote Act after the Florida fiasco. Congress came together, bipartisan, and said we have to fix our elections from a national standpoint. And one of those was a unified voting system that included a statewide database. I think I saw my good friend, Mr. Kevin Time, who served in the Secretary of State's office when that was passed. I worked real closely with Mr. Time and the Secretary at that time. I was part of the Help America Vote Act Committee to implement it. But these are all good steps in moving our election process forward. Should there be new revisions? You bet. Stuff needs to be revised all the time. But we have a system, Madam Chair, that is accurate, that is transparent, that is safe, secure. And as our slogan for this year, they can vote with confidence. They can. Their ballot is going to be counted. So Madam Chair, I am thrilled and happy to once again vote on another election plan for 2026. And I look forward to having a very robust election system where every voter in Maricopa County is able to vote in confidence. So with that, Madam Chair, I vote aye.

Chair Brophy-McGee. Thank you very much. It's wonderful to hear from my colleagues. First of all, I want to thank the staff. for presenting here today. I wanted to thank your line staff, your volunteers, and all these people you've marshaled together to ensure what has been the board's number one priority, a great election. So thank you to all, both in the elections department and the career and line staff in the recorder's office. I'm counting on these members of staff to ensure a great election. The next thing I'd say, I was listening to the discussion. In 2016, it was pretty close. I won by 2,300 some odd votes, I think. In 2018, I won by 267 votes. in 2020 i lost by 496 votes and in 2024 i came blazing across the finish line by 171 votes and went through a recount and spent a lot of time observing the tabulation process the elections process and even though it is agonizing not to know your fate for sure until Thanksgiving week, sometimes later, I have developed great comfort in the concise, consistent, careful work that you all do. And I appreciate it more than I can adequately express. I believe in a bifurcated policy. I know it creates this confusion and back and forth and this necessity for a shared services agreement, but I agree with the legislative policy that splits the duties of the recorder from the board of supervisors slash elections department. You do not want the person who is registering voters, verifying signatures to also tabulate. I like splitting it so that we have so much more confidence. Now, does it lead to a lot of confusion, misunderstanding, especially with people who are brand new and have no idea what the job is? Yes, it does. But I want to point out that the board's role in elections is every bit, if not more important than other electeds. And why is that? We canvass the elections. The last vote that is taken on any election is the board certifying or stamping the election. And that means we look at every aspect. As you know, I raised the mail-in ballot election in November, that there were a lot of signatures that were thrown out. and while I have followed vigorously and hopefully for a follow-up on the recorder side for why those signatures were eliminated, what is the outreach to those 6,000 voters so that when they show up to vote at the polls, they can, in these elections, they can be confident their signature will be counted. I have concerns, but it's the last vote. We canvass the election. We fund elections. We approve budgets. We set the tax rates. We rely upon Maricopa County taxpayers to fund these elections. So to simply say we don't get to decide is a complete and total fallacy. What needs to happen and what has happened in the past always, even with very different recorders, is a partnership. And what I have not found up to this point is a partnership. I remember sitting with you, then Chair Galvin, After countless meetings and constructing that important document, the shared services agreement, everything that Recorder Heap wanted went into that shared services agreement. After he left that private, un-taped meeting, he texted my colleagues and said, we're 95% of the way there. Good, you know what that counts as? It counts as my colleague Thomas Galvin says, that's a handshake deal. So what happened? It went dark. And then six weeks later, no agreement and a lawsuit. So don't forget, so you keep going back and you keep going back and you keep trying so hard. I remember a Teams meeting that was recorded with election staff and me and I think county manager and Mr. Heap and his colleagues. We agreed. We came up with voting sites. We we worked a lot of things out. And I'm going to give kudos to you, Mr. Jarrett and Mr. Shira, because you are a big part of making that happen. We designated Chief of Staff Sam Stone as the point of contact. We walked out of that meeting, we're getting close to these deadlines, and we accomplished a lot. So, of course, the next day on social media, remember, Twitter isn't true. He went out and his colleagues, his friends, his allies, whomever went out and just, I'm going to say it beat the crap out of us, accused us of things that didn't happen, accused us of obstructing, of taking away. That's not how it's supposed to do. You're supposed to come to an agreement and then work to implement it. But everything that we've tried to do, I use the word clawback. We had an email with approvals from the recorder's designated point of contact, Sam Stone, approved, approved, approved, approved. Two weeks later, we get an email from Mr. Heap saying everything has to go through my attorney. All that we've agreed to up to this point is canceled. So now what? What that tells me is we are not dealing in good faith. We are not dealing with someone we can count on to honor their word. I was asked a question, just kind of blindsided by a question in Sunday Square off last week. Bram Resnick has a way of doing that. He said, do you trust Justin Heap? And I said, well, I don't really see why I should. He goes, oh, great. But it's true. Why should I? That what has happened that has been followed through and kept and kept in place to build a successful election. And very clearly, as my colleagues have pointed out, he is not the person or persons running his office. He's been sidelined and it's all going through his attorney who has to approve everything. Hopefully not when you get to go to the bathroom, but close. So this is not a good working relationship. But it takes two people to come to the table. It takes two people to agree. And you can change state statute all you want, having served in the legislature for 10 years. They will all tell you, oh, yeah, yeah, that's what it says. And then you start to implement it. No, that's not what it says. So it would be helpful. But then you try to rely on the elections procedure, manual, and politics intervenes. The point that I'm making is through all of this drama between the electeds, we, Maricopa County, are set to have a great election. It's not because of the elected officials or senior staff. It's because of our Maricopa County employees and volunteers. who serve in the recorder's office, who serve in the elections office, and who love their job and who love what they are doing. It is an absolute honor, if somewhat of a headache, to serve as chair during an election year. I could not be more honored to take that leadership role. I guess I would have to say I think our next step forward is what Vice Chair Lesko approached me with. Meet with the grandmas. Yeah, we need to record it so everybody remembers what was said and how it was said. Meet with the grandmas and let's get this figured out. We're used to temper tantrums. We've had a long time in office. And we get that everybody comes with an agenda, but we want our elections to work. So Recorder Heap, meet with the grandmas. We don't bite. And I think we care deeply about making this work for everybody in Maricopa County. Again, with thanks to staff and my colleagues on the board, I proudly vote aye. Madam Chair, with five ayes, we have a unanimous vote. Thank you. The motion carries unanimously. You gentlemen may be excused. And thank you. Going on to agenda item 108, we will recess as the Board of Supervisors and convene as the Board of Deposit. Madam Clerk, do we have any speaker forms?

Madam Chair, yes, I do have three speaker forms on item number 108. OK. Roger Mabe, Veronica Corcoran, and Andy Tye.

OK, Mr. Mabe?

Morning, Supervisors. Before I begin, I want to note that I'll be referring and referencing yesterday's audit discussion because it involves financial records, financial controls, and the handling of public funds. Agenda item 108 is also a financial item involving the handling of taxpayer funds through a banking services agreement. Therefore, the issues raised yesterday are directly relevant to the questions I'm going to ask today. During yesterday's audit discussions, the public heard that 25 out of 25 files reviewed were found to be incomplete. The public also heard discussions that within a sample reviewed, multiple files were missing required information, including social security numbers and that documentation. Those findings raised concerns about documentation, verification, and oversight. With that in mind, question one, how was it determined that this agreement provides the best value for taxpayers? Given that every file reviewed during the audit contained deficiencies, what assurances can the board provide that proper documentation and verification procedures are being followed before public funds are committed and administered? And how will taxpayers be informed whether the improvements promised under this agreement are actually achieved. If a limited audit review found deficiencies in every file examined, taxpayers have every reason to ask how financial controls are working and what changes are being made to prevent similar problems in the future.

Thank you. Madam Clerk? Next up, Veronica Corcoran, then Andy Tai.

Stand by. Thank you. I will refer to yesterday audit as well. The public heard that 25 of 25 files reviewed were found to be incomplete. We heard discussion that within a sample reviewed, multiple files were missing. Vital information. Those things just raise questions. I know you guys are working really hard. It's not easy to be in politics where everything is so convoluted, confused, and it's not easy to be a part of this society.

Society does not work.

We need to do something radical. We need to be brave to do what's right. How can we trust that you guys are just running on a hamster wheel for the sake of running while we as taxpayers are just trying to survive? Do you know what tariffs are all about? people criticizing Trump on tariffs. Tariffs are paying you. We should be free from financial burden. We people have a freedom to thrive. You please help us thrive. You will do better job. Easy job will be for you and for us. If we don't stand for the basic integrity, I'm gonna go back to this what like money is energy. So if we don't value this, Like, we can forget about having a better job. We will have to run machines. Machines will run anything. AI is important, but real intelligence must control AI. And the Belasco, yes, we need to pass the bills, but it's very difficult because the Uniparty, both sides, Democrats and Republicans, basically, you guys work together, so help us people. We are your, we are your, you serve us, you know? We would love to pass those bills, but we need to work together, both, both, because common law give us rights. Thank you. Madam Clerk, last speaker, Andy Tiles.

Members of the board, I see that you're changing your banking services. And it's estimated about $13 million. I have some questions or comments concerning oversight and accountability. Were there specific lessons that you learned from your past banking services? Were there deficiencies, performance concerns, interruptions? Those type of things. If they were concerned, are those being implemented into or cured in the new services agreement with the bank? And will there be periodic performance reviews to be conducted? And will those views be available to the public? If the contractual performance expectations are not met with this new banking system, what remedies are available to the county? And I guess my last comment is because these services are affected, affected the handling of public funds, ongoing oversight and accountability are extremely important. I was personally a little bit offended that I was basically called a communist because of my patriotic rights and my morals about voting and where I stand. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Madam County Manager, would you address the questions that came up during this portion of the meeting, please.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. The 25 out of 25 findings that the public speakers were referring to were related to findings for the Housing Authority of Maricopa County. The Housing Authority of Maricopa County has a separate board. However, it is considered a separate component unit of the county, which is why that finding appears on our audit finding. However, I'd like to point out that we had a clean opinion from the Auditor General on our annual comprehensive financial report, saying that our financial information is presented accurately. And the last speaker had some, I think, specific questions about the actual bank servicing agreement. And Jordan Dale from the Treasurer's Office is here. And if you would like, he could speak to a few of those specific questions.

Thank you very briefly, if you would. Welcome and please state your names for the record and for the audience.

Good afternoon, Madam chair members of the board. My name is Jordan Dale. I'm the chief of staff for the treasurer's office to my right is Rick challoner, who is our business operations manager. A couple different things to unpack, but at a really high level, I want to note that the bank servicing agreement, we're looking at it from a fiduciary standpoint rather than a governmental fund standpoint. And what that means is the treasurer's office is functioning as the bank for over a thousand taxing jurisdictions, but we're not independently reviewing if each transaction is appropriate. We're simply looking, do they have the funds? Are the monies managed appropriately? With that in mind, this specific contract is being awarded to Chase Bank. Every five years, I believe it has to go out to a public bid, and Chase Bank has been selected for that bid since 2011. There's going to be a lot of continuity of operations. We have an excellent working relationship with them. We meet with them every week to talk about what's going on. If there are any issues, we are more than happy to have discussions, and they have resolved those issues in the past. And in this scope of work for the solicitation that went out last fall, we put together a very detailed scope of work of everything we're looking for in a successful contract. And that was in collaboration with the Office of Budget and Finance and the Clerk of the Court's office. So overall, this is a very positive relationship. But I also want to mention as far as audits go in 2024, the legislature made a law change that actually allowed for the Auditor General to go directly to the banking records. So they don't need to get permission to look at these records first. So that does ensure a level of transparency.

Thank you. Any questions, comments from the board? Thank you very much. The board will now consider item 108. Madam vice chair, would you please provide a motion? Yes. Thank you, Madam chair. I move that we approve item 108. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor will say aye. Aye. All those opposed will say nay. Motion passes unanimously. We will now adjourn as the board of deposit and convene as the flood control district board of directors for considerations of items 109 through 112. Madam Clerk, are there any speaker forms?

Madam Chair, I have no speaker forms on these items.

Thank you. The board will now consider items 109 through 112. Madam Vice Chair? Madam Chair, I move that we approve items 109 through 112.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded. There being no discussion, we'll proceed to a vote. All those in favor will say aye. Aye. Those opposed? Motion passes unanimously. We will adjourn as the Flood Control District Board of Directors and convene as the Library District Board of Directors. Madam Clerk, do we have any speaker forms? Madam Chair, we have none. Thank you. The board will now consider items 113 and 114.

Madam Vice Chair? Madam Chair, I move that we approve items 113 and 114. Thank you. Is there a second? Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Hearing no discussion, we will proceed to a vote. All those in favor will say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? The motion carries unanimously. We will now adjourn as library district board of directors and reconvene as the board of supervisors for items 115, public comment, and 116, supervisor comments, along with county manager. Madam Clerk, do we have any speaker forms?

Madam Chair, yes, we have two speaker forms. Sorry, I'm sorry, 12. 12 speaker forms. Okay, let's get started. First speaker is Kim Baker, followed by Lisa Everett and then Diane Barker. Thank you.

I know.

Welcome, sir. Please state your name for the record.

to the board, I gave a document for the board members. And I put, I think, Ms. McGee's on hers. This deals with the electronic index of the It says in the letter, I have questions. Why is the August 16, 2023 motion not a part of the official docket? This is a citizen's petition. I'm asking for it to be looked into. I had a stroke. I'm getting better, but this is important to me. The index spells out the failure. Look into it and get back with me. Thank you.

Thank you. Madam Clerk. Next up, Lisa Everett, followed by Diane Barker and Noah James Markham. Welcome.

Thank you, Lisa Everett. I am here to talk about an entirely different topic, my favorite topic, BNSF. I sent an email to y'all, but I wanted to just bring to your attention that BNSF, of course, runs parallel to the 60 in the West Valley. And along that area, there are three hospitals. And it has come to my attention that BNSF regularly parks their train, blocking two, three, sometimes four intersections at a time. And they leave the train in that location anywhere from 30 minutes to well over an hour. And I thought this was a terrible thing, so I kind of looked into it, and I discovered that there were three different court cases where states have gone to the Supreme Court because of this problem, and the Supreme Court rules with the railroad every time. So I'm telling you this not because I expect you to overrule the Supreme Court, but because I want you to keep that in the back of your mind when BNSF comes back here before you to talk about getting their way in Whitman. The reality is we will have no recourse if BNSF blocks those hospitals by parking their train. We will have zero. Kansas has sued them. Oklahoma has sued them. And I'm sorry, I think it was Michigan, but I can't be sure. But three different states, all the way to the Supreme Court. So they can do what we want, and they don't care. I know that Councilman Johnny Melton, who is a friend of mine, actually had to phone Supervisor Lesko to get them to even answer the phone. Just wanted to bring that to your attention. Thank you. Have a good day. Thank you.

Madam Clerk. Next, Diane Barker, followed by Noah James Markham, then Rocio Patino. Welcome.

Well, thank you, Chair. Kate Murphy. Brophy. Close enough. Yes, right. And... The Board of Supervisors, it is finally afternoon. And I've long time been in District 7, although I've lived in seven other cities prior in Maricopa County. And I'd just like to say to my long time supervisor that I wish that his passion before, trust me, trust me, everything's okay, Al. Or Dave, as 2001 Space Odyssey, the computer, Hal, had taken over, was telling Dave everything's okay. Just remember, Mr. Gardo, that these people you're deriding, I would imagine most of them are citizens and The citizens sit on top of your and the rest of the board organization chart. So tell them what you're going to tell them. Bless our country and peace on earth. No one wins a war. Now tell them. Tell them how much we are blessed in our country to have all of our freedoms. We're heading now for a big celebration, the 250. And this country was formed on the constitutional rights of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. And we must ever preserve those. No one wins a war. And finally, that's what I told you. That no one wins a war. Bless our country.

Thank you. Madam Clerk. Noah James Markham, Rocio Patino, Albert Rivera. Aloha, cheer into the rest of the Maricopa County Board.

My name is Noah James Markham, and I'm from the great city, the great blue city of Tempe. Yes. You know, this old raggedy guy tried to make an excuse about the voting center having accessibility and how you can pick up the ballot from the car. They need to come inside to the polling place, not from outside. You didn't listen to what I was saying. Also, happy Pride Month and Juneteenth, and did you know that black people love the LGBT Q plus community too. That's so amazing. Also, we need to extend the light rail to Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Santan Valley, Eloy, Coules, Casa Grande, and Florence. Also, we need to make sure that is the Japanese company that makes this rail. Also, let's talk about the, we're trying to bring our track back. Please bring it back. Yes, we need it in this area. And then also I would like to talk about the Mesa Data Center that I guess they're going to be talking about soon. Mesa is a Tokyo-based company, NTT Data Group. We need to make sure that this gets approved there so we can represent the Japanese Americans in Arizona. Mahalo. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Rocio Patino, Albert Rivera, Vivian Serafin.

Good morning, or good afternoon, chair and supervisors. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Rocio Patino. And I believe in the power of using our voices when people are threatening our democracy. Election after election, I've been a strong advocate for voting because voting is what we have to yield in the face of threats to our democracy. It is one of the few tools everyday people have to protect ourselves and our communities. And now more than ever, that right we have as Americans is being challenged. Justin Heap has been doing everything in his power to disenfranchise voters who don't agree with his extremist views. We have seen many questionable actions come from him and his office, such as one of his staffers bringing a scanner and provisional ballot envelopes into his car. Actions like that undermine trust in our elections and fuel dangerous narratives. Trust in our system matters, and it's something this board has a responsibility to protect. As a naturalized citizen, if I don't vote to put people in office who believe in democracy and inclusion, I am putting myself at risk. When leaders talk about targeting immigrants or questioning the citizenship of people's children, that is a real threat. When ICE is constantly used as a weapon of fear, that threat feels very personal. That is why if we are eligible to vote, we have a duty to use that right. Voting is how we hold bad actors with selfish motives like Justin Heap accountable. It is how we protect ours and our children's futures. The reason there is such a push to weaken voting access is because our voices matter. They are trying so hard to strip people of their power because they know that power works. This is bigger than one person. It is about democracy.

Madam Clerk? ELIZABETH WARREN CLARK JR.: Albert Rivera, Vivian Serafine, Juan Mendez.

Hello, good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board. My name is Albert Rivera. I've come to these meetings before regarding another thing, but I'm mostly focused about election integrity. And I just want to say thank you guys so very much for defending our democracy and for actually having integrity going up against Justin Heap, because this is not about actually protecting democracy. This is 100% politically motivated from Justin Heap, which leads me to another thing. Supervisor Stewart, I have to ask you this. Which side are you on? You're either on the side of the people of Maricopa County or you're on the side of Justin Heap, Warren Peterson, who you brought in on April 8th to do the little speech, I guess. Which side are you on? Because I'm very sick and tired. I have seen only four people on that diet is actually to federal democracy, and you, on the other hand, you're making everything politically motivated by siding with Justin Heap and with Warren Peterson. This board is no stranger to tires in the past. Because back in 2009, Sheriff Joe Arpaio targeted Mayor Rose Wilcox, Fulton Brock, Don Stapley, Max Wilson, I could go on and on. Actually threatening the Board of Supervisors for arrest just because they didn't want to give this corrupt sheriff any money. And that's the same thing that Justin Heap is doing by getting America first and trying to do everything politically motivated. Which side are you on? Early balance card going out today and the people need transparency. Okay? And I applaud the rest of the Board for actually doing what's right. And even if I disagree with you guys in the past, I still appreciate you guys very much And let me make one thing clear, Supervisor Stewart. Get it together. Please get it together, because this is not the time for partisanship. And you can smirk at me all you want. This is about actually defending. This is about actually doing what's right. And I applaud the rest of the progress in doing something right. Thank you.

Madam Clerk, Vivian Serafin, Juan Mendez, Veronica Corcoran.

Hello again. Good afternoon chairwoman and board members. My name is Vivian Serafin. As someone who greatly relies on early voting measures, I'm glad this board made progress without county recorder Justin Heath. My mother is a naturalized citizen and she is incredibly proud and grateful she can participate in our democracy. With early ballots being sent out today, I can't help but notice County Recorder Justin Heap never released his own early vote center map when the people have been begging for its release for weeks. I fear that this delay was calculated on his end to discourage and deter certain demographics who may not fall in line with his political agenda from voting. I can't also help but notice the larger political backdrop that this is taking place alongside. With attempts at disenfranchising people at the federal level, such as the SAVE Act and the eviscerating of the Voting Rights Act, it's quite clear that the chain of command trickles all the way down to the county level. Black and brown people, working families, single parents, disabled people, these are the folks who would suffer the consequences if this board hadn't moved forward with their own primary and general election plan. I'm grateful this board did not back down in the face of mutiny and is moving forward with their own plan. So once again, I'm asking you all to continue holding strong and protecting our elections. Ensure that my mother, my neighbor, my teachers, my pastor, my friends, gardeners, baristas, cashiers, mechanics, and every other taxpayer can practice their civic duty. Because as authoritarianism is at our doorstep, we deserve to use our voice to fend it off. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Juan Mendez, Veronica Corcoran, Lou Crawley,

Good morning chair and members of the board or afternoon. Again, thanks again for approving the 2026 primary internal election plan and for sharing your, your staff and following up with my questions is greatly appreciated. The fact that he refused to do his job and work with the board is a failure that we're never going to let down. Because of his inaction, because of Heap's dragging his feet, we're left with less time to activate and organize our community along our election roadmap. And let's face it, Heap's strategy was probably always to run out the clock. Especially after last week, when a judge ordered you all into forced mediation, and then Heap... exposed his real agenda by actually suggesting that election denier, Cleta Mitchell, as a neutral mediator, there's no way that that was a good faith attempt to find solutions. It was a partisan stunt designed to bring election denying politics deniers directly into our county operations. And the judge needs to take notice of this and stop giving Heap the benefit of the doubt, especially after recommending somebody as chaotic as Cleta Mitchell. I commend this board for holding the line against Heap's $100,000 a day shakedown and for moving forward with the adoption of our own election plan. I guess keep holding the line, keep working on voter access, and our community is ready to vote, and we won't let Heap get in our way. So thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Veronica Corcoran, Lou Crawley, Roger Mabe.

Thank you. Again, don't hate, educate. Heap is not refusing to do the job. Election deniers are those who still believe that Biden had more votes than Obama in 2020. I am happy to go back because I believe in justice and truth. When I come to this country, I have to prove I'm not a burden to American taxpayers because American middle class is on a chopping block. Yes, I want our people to have rights to vote, but why don't we love this country and make it an election day, come there, like gentlemen said, enjoy this country, privilege, go in person. Only those who cannot come and it's proven to come, they are allowed to have mail-in ballots. Let's honor each other as humans, not a machine. We are divinely inspired. Please, we as a republic, we need to stand for it if we can. And our Justin Heap, he got his gift from Stephen Richer, because Richer He gave, by mistake, Kari Lake, a discovery process that proved that there was a discrepancy. There was a video there, I saw it and I sent you guys, where a man came in, election data center, your employee, whatever his name is, and change not just data, he broke, breached the reach of privacy. He had no right to be there alone. So we have so much issues and let's try to fix this out. I pray for all of you. I pray for this country. I pray for President Trump. He is saving our country from real oppression. 250 years let's get free from the british imperial financial system that took over iran that took oil and they took they start creating a muslim brotherhood so that they can create war and make more money it's all about money let's put souls first thank you madam clerk blue crawley roger may albert riviere

Welcome, Mr. Crowley.

Thank you again. I'm here for an item that was on the agenda. It's $175,000 to RPTA for the trip reduction plan. And I was wondering, which way is that money going? And what money are you spending? Is that general fund or is that proper 89 funds? But I was not able to find that out or discuss it when you were agreeing to it because that was on the consent. But it's something that I believe you should be dealing with. So where did all the money go this year from that, what was it, 489? One-third of that, or 37%, is supposed to go right to the RPTA for what? Buses. Where is it? What got spent? Where is it? How much is it? And Steve, could you, under the... Public Information Act, get that information for me, because you were on the board this last year. What did you spend it on? Chairwoman, you over at MAG, you're the ones that say what the money got spent for. What did you spend it on? Where is it? Where is the plan?

Where are you doing?

With jurisdictional equity, where are each one of your districts Plan, and where are the monies for it, and what are you doing with it? Or is it still, we're going to spend $10 million for the rail to plan stuff? Now, did you pay for that this year out of those monies? Because you're not supposed to. What got spent? How much is it? Where did it go? What are your plans for it? Could you get that information for me, Steve? And the board, when are you going to start taking care of your districts?

Madam Clerk, Roger May.

My name is Roger Mabe.

97 items today were placed into consent agenda. That means approximately 85% of the agenda items appearing before public comment are bundled into one single vote. The concern is not simply the number of items. The concern is what is inside those items. The consent agenda includes a proposed $46 million Microsoft technology agreement, Approximately $91 million in behavioral health funding, election-related expenditures, a professional standards bureau backlog project, a courthouse renovation project approaching $7 million, banking agreements, transportation projects, and other significant policies and spending decisions. Many of the largest financial commitments and policy decisions are grouped into a consent category that receives little or no separate discussion. I personally continued to travel approximately an hour and a half each way to attend these meetings and my request for webinar participation was again denied. All of you used the webinar for your failing audit report while 25 out of 25 were not in compliance. If you deny me the webinar First Amendment right, for the record, that is unequal access. If major expenditures, major contracts, major policy decisions and matters affecting public accountability are important enough to spend time discussing in your executive sessions, your audits and your special meetings, they are important enough to receive meaningful public visibility before being approved. Please move this meeting to the evenings or the weekends, because that's when your constituents could come. And remember, please, people before dogs.

Thank you. Madam Clerk? Madam Chair, I don't have any other speakers.

OK, that concludes the public comment portion of the meeting, the final agenda item, Supervisor's Summary of Current Events. Let me start with you first, Madam County Manager.

nothing today thank you chair thank you supervisor galvin nothing today thank you chair okay thank you supervisor stewart thank you madam chair i appreciate the time and you know um just for those that are still here watching um the smile that i had on my face while one of our constituents was speaking um was me reflecting on what an amazing nation we live in where because you can't do this in other countries where you can stand in front of your elected officials and share your disagreement. And so I think it's remarkable when we have people come to our chambers here and share their frustration. I think it's a wonderful thing that we have in our community, which leads me into some comments about the July 4th and our 250th anniversary of our nation. Nearly 250 years ago, a group of ordinary men did something extraordinary. They put their names on a document and declared that a simple but revolutionary idea that government derives its power from the people, not from a king, a ruler, or an elite class. They risked their fortunes, their reputations, and their very lives to affirm liberty is not guaranteed by government, but is a God-given right that belongs to every individual. The signing of the Declaration of Independence was more than an act of rebellion. It was the birth of a bold experiment in self-governance, a belief that free people working together could govern themselves better than any distant ruler ever could. The American experiment has not been perfect, but 250 years later, it remains the envy of the world. No other nation has done more to unleash human potential, expand opportunity, and prove that free people can govern themselves. It has produced the most prosperous, innovative, and diverse nation in human history. People from every corner of the globe have come to America seeking freedom, opportunity, and the chance to build a better life. America became the great melting pot, united not by race, ancestry, or birthplace, but by a shared commitment to liberty, equality, and the promise that everyone can achieve the American dream. The spirit of our founders lives on today. It lives in every citizen who votes, serves our community, starts a business, raises a family, volunteers for a cause, or stands up for what is right. It lives in the brave men and women of our armed forces, our veterans, our first responders, and all that have answered the call to defend the freedoms we often take for granted. Because freedom is never guaranteed. Every generation must choose to preserve it, strengthen it, and pass it on. That responsibility now belongs to us. We are Americans. We believe in the dignity of the individual. We believe in self-government. We believe that our rights come from our creator, not from government. And throughout history, when liberty has been threatened, Americans have stood together to defend what is right. As we celebrate this historic milestone, let's honor those who pledged their lives their fortune and their sacred honor to launch this great republic. Let's remember the generations of patriots that sacrificed to preserve it and let us recommit ourselves to ensuring that the story of liberty continues for generations to come. Excuse me. Perhaps one of the most beautiful expressions of America is how we celebrate freedom. In many places around the world, power is displayed through military parades, tanks, demonstrations of force. Here we celebrate something different. We gather with family, friends, and neighbors. We share picnics, backyard barbecues, We cool off in swimming pools, wave flags, and watch fireworks. Maybe not in Arizona, but we also light bottle rockets. So that's the American story. Free people living freely, celebrating blessings of liberty together. May God continue to bless this remarkable nation. Thank you.

Thank you. Supervisor Gallardo.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to point out there was one item that really means a lot to District 5, and it is the IGA with the City of Phoenix. This is the improvement along Southern Avenue, and Madam Chair, this was an issue when I first got elected in 2015. It was one of those things that all of a sudden it's on your plate and you're hustling, trying to figure out Some of the challenges, we had a number of community events or community meetings there. This was an area in which a number of accidents and people, unfortunately, were hit by vehicles. And it was just a terrible situation right there, around 43rd and Southern. And the city of Phoenix, I remember the city of Phoenix, Maricopa County, I don't know if you were there or not, but it was like a bunch of folks got together and it was a packed house. Everyone was upset that... Not much was being done in regards to there. But now we do have an agreement with the City of Phoenix to address that from 51st to 35th Avenue. I know at one point they wanted a hawk light. We put a hawk light there by the American Veterans Facility. We finally put a hawk. We got a hot light through the City of Phoenix. But now we have an agreement in which we're really going to address it, splitting the cost down. This is a great partnership of City of Phoenix, American County to address something that's been on And particularly that area, that neighborhood, it's been on their mind for a number of years. And to be able to see it come to fruition and really address some of the traffic issues, it's a special one. Even though it's on consent, it's in a two-mile area, it means a lot to that community. So I'm really thankful for what the staff has done working with the city of Phoenix to see this happen. Thank you, Supervisor.

Vice Chair, let's go. Well, thank you, Madam Chair. I want to say thank you to Supervisor Stewart for his passionate speech about the United States of America and our 250th birthday coming up and wish everyone a fantastic July 4th and 250th birthday to the greatest nation in the world. I'd also like to introduce my new intern, Olivia Moore. Why you stand up, Olivia? Olivia started last week and hit the ground running, making an immediate impact. Olivia will be a junior this year at Arizona State University, majoring in construction management. And I also want to introduce her grandmother who's here, Jan Shank, who's one of my constituents as well. And community service and politics runs in the family. So thank you both for being here. I want to thank Robert Justice for his many years of service on the Flood Control Advisory Board. And I would like to congratulate Don Neeson who will be replacing Robert. We voted on that today. I also want to say thank you to Pamela Schwartz for her years of work on the Transportation Advisory Board. and for accepting the reinstatement to that same board, and thanks for her continued work. And I would like to congratulate Jack Bean, who we voted on today, for accepting my appointment of him to the Air Pollution Hearing Board. And lastly, I want to tell the folks that I had a great time in Sun City West on Saturday, talking to a lot of really patriotic, constituents and updating them on elections and I just really love representing the people in the West Valley they're fantastic people and I appreciate them so much thank you madam vice chair hate to be between the door and everybody this was mr. Gallardo story reminded me

of the county because I came into my office and I had some interesting meetings obviously we've been working on elections a lot but then I met staff on the Matic Road abandonment we voted on earlier and as they were leaving I said okay you guys get out so I can talk trash with Andy Linton because we're working on the Cave Creek Transfer Station. So at any rate, I went home and told my husband I did roads and trash. That's what the county does. People expect us to be there. They expect us to provide excellent service. And I could not be more proud and grateful to all the employees in Maricopa County for their amazing service and contributions. And thank you to my fellow board of supervisors. There being no further, and county manager, being no further business before the board, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Whoops.