PHOENIX β The contest for secretary of state could boil down to whether voters believe things are being better run now in the office than they were two years ago.
In a televised debate Thursday night, incumbent Michele Reagan acknowledged that 2016 was βa very bumpy year.β
That may be an understatement.
At a news conference that year, Attorney General Mark Brnovich unloaded on Reagan for failing to comply with state laws requiring voters to get ballot pamphlets explaining the issues before they got their early ballots. He called for an investigation of why Reagan, his fellow Republican, hid that information from the public for weeks. βThis was a complete fiasco,β Brnovich said then.
Reagan conceded the point during the debate, saying the special election at issue was the first statewide race run by her office.
But under questioning from host Ted Simons at KAET-TV, she said changes were made. βArizona now has an election system that they can be really proud of,β Reagan said.
βWeβve had four statewide elections since that incident two and a half years ago,β she continued. βAnd things have gone off swimmingly.β
But business owner Steve Gaynor, challenging Reagan in the Republican primary, said thatβs not good enough. He cited a report done after the incident showing that Reaganβs office knew weeks before it told the public that the pamphlets had not gone out on time as required by law.
βWhat the report shows was that it wasnβt just one error that happened on the 200,000 missed pamphlets,β Gaynor said. βIt was a series of errors. And then, at the end, instead of (the failure to send out the pamphlets) being publicized immediately it was kind of hidden.β
Gaynor conceded under questioning he has no hands-on knowledge of how to run an election, one of the key duties of secretary of state. But he said his business experience coupled with his study of the office qualifies him for the job.
He also lashed out at Reagan for failing to do something about what may be election fraud.
Gaynor cited a lawsuit filed earlier Thursday by attorneys for Pinnacle West Capital Corp. claiming that many of the signatures submitted for a renewable energy initiative were invalid and possibly outright forgeries. He said that Reagan, as the chief elections officer, should have done something about those signatures.
She countered that shows Gaynorβs lack of knowledge about election procedures and the role of the Secretary of Stateβs Office. Reagan said Arizona law relies on courts and legal challenges to determine if there are sufficient valid signatures.
βI donβt think you ever want one person or one office being the judge of what gets on the ballot or not,β Reagan said. βThatβs exactly why the system is set up where thereβs multiple people that are involved.β
Gaynor sidestepped a question about why he has put $1 million of his own funds into getting elected to the office.
βElections are the foundation of democracy,β he responded, saying he believes how elections are run βis important.β
Gaynor said he was not seeking the office in hopes of it being a stepping stone to governor. Under Arizona law, the secretary of state is first in line if a governor quits or dies, something that has happened several times during the last 30 years.
He said, though, that if he is elected βI will study the governorβs office in order to be prepared.β
Reagan, for her part, said she wouldnβt have to study.
βIβve served 12 years in the Legislature,β she said, saying sheβs been involved in βmultiple state budgets, which is probably one of the hardest things that the executive branch does.β
Reagan added, βI would be an excellent governor if I was an accidental governor because I wouldnβt be running for it again.β That, she said, would free her to consider issues based on their merits rather than partisan politics and an eye on the next election.
Gaynor said thereβs another side to that, saying it would mean βshe would do a lot of things that conservatives wouldnβt like because she wasnβt going to run again.β
Whoever survives the Aug. 28 GOP primary will face off against state Sen. Katie Hobbs, the lone Democrat in the race, and Libertarian Jenn Gray.
