Monthly Archives: May 2023

Cochise County jail district election May 16, 2023

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The Cochise County jail district election is on May 16, 2023.  Every registered voter in the county received a ballot by mail.  Don't wait until the last day, mark your ballot now and return via USPS.  This is a YES or NO question to form the jail district and fund it with a one-half cent sales tax for the next 25 years.
Make sure your voice is heard on this issue.  Ballots must be received by May 16, 2023.
Learn more about the jail district election here.

Request to be a contributor

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Request to be a contributor

We are looking for commentary, essays, and interesting view points to be included on our News/Commentary pages.  We will accept one offs, without having to become a contributor.  For those who want to regularly contribute, we suggest becoming a contributor.
A few guidelines for submissions:
  1. Keep it relatively short.  No more than about 400 words.  It is acceptable for it to be a lot shorter!
  2. Limit your submission to a single topic: a candidate, policy item, news item.
  3. Be current.  Do not comment on something six months old.  Think in terms of the last few week.
  4. Content have direct relevance to Cochise County elections.
  5. Refer to whatever you are commenting on in the heading.
  6. No profanity, name calling or other personal attacks.  Talk about policy or your ideas or a reaction to a news event.
  7. Please proof read for spelling.
If you want to send us commentary please feel out the contact form below.  We will contact you by email to continue the process with more detailed instructions.  We reserve the right to decline to accept a submission for publication for any reason.
We look forward hearing from you.

Washington Post: Recall effort fails

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National coverage of the recall Tom Crosby effort

Read the entire 5/4/23 article by Nicholas Riccardi of the Associated Press  here.
From the beginning of the article: "Organizers of an effort to remove a rural Arizona county supervisor for skepticism over the results of last year’s election announced that they have fallen short of the legal requirement to proceed with a recall effort that would have given voters the option of removing him from office.
The campaign to recall Tom Crosby in rural Cochise County said Wednesday night that it fell short of collecting the 4,865 signature s required to place the recall on the ballot for voters later this year."

Cochise County Recorder

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County Recorder

Cochise County Recorder Candidates for Democratic Party Primary August 6, 2024

CandidateCommitteeEmailWebsiteFacebookSocial Media
Anne Carlacarl4az@gmail.comCarlforCochise.comAnne Carl for County Recorder

About the Cochise County Recorder

The Cochise County Recorder has two responsibilities.  Maintaining the records of real property (houses & land) transactions.  Property deeds go back to when Arizona was territory over 150 years ago!  Everyone who buys or sells a house or land in this county has indirectly delt with the Recorder's office.  For years that was the most important task of the Recorder, very clerical.  Ask anyone in the real estate industry how important it is for property transactions to be recorded accurately and quickly.
The other responsibility is to maintain voter registration rolls and be the public face of Cochise County for encouraging people to register and vote.  The Recorder makes sure that the voter registration database is up to date and accurate, sending out voter ID cards to newly registered voters and updates when the one each decade redistricting takes place.  In conjunction with the county elections office staff, the recorder's office oversees handling of vote-by-mail (PEVL) ballots.  Sending them out, and then as they are returned during an election making sure that each returned ballot is valid by checking the address and signature information on the outside of the sealed envelope prior to the inside ballot envelope being removed and then given to the elections staff for securing prior to the count.
This separation of responsibilities and tasks between an elected partisan office holder, the Recorder, and professional county employees, the county Elections Director and staff, has until 2023 been policy to ensure impartial conduct of Cochise County elections. However recent decisions by the Board of Supervisors have put control of the entire elections operation under the Recorder.  After the Elections Director resigned, alleging a hostile work environment, Recorder Stevens selected a new Elections Director.  This has been controversial.
The 2024 campaign for County Recorder will almost surely address these issues.

 

 

Creating your campaign committee

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What is a campaign committee? When do I need to create it?

For candidates running for county offices including school boards.  Once you have filed your Statement of Interest and started to collect signatures on your nomination petitions, you may need to create your campaign committee.  Not all candidates form a committee.  However according to Arizona election statute within 10 days after your campaign’s combined receipts and/or disbursements exceed $1,400, the candidate must file a Committee using the Statement of Organization form (PDF).  As long as your campaign’s combined receipts and disbursements do not exceed $1,400, you may skip this step.
Note:  Once you file a committee, you are obligated to filing regular campaign finance reports subject to late fees.
The county form looks a bit overwhelming, but a careful review before you fill it out will make the process go more smoothly.  Here's the minimum you will need:
  • Candidate name
  • Committee name
  • Office and district sought
  • Party affiliation   (Democrat!)
  • Year of election cycle (2024)
  • Name and address information for Chairperson and Treasurer (see below for more detail)
  • Name of the committee's bank (see below for more detail)
The next section asks for committee address, email address, Chairperson, Treasurer address, email address, and phone.  The committee can have the same address and email as the candidate, and there is no requirement that you have to have a separate chairperson or treasurer.  The candidate can do both of these positions.  However, if you have someone, particularly for Treasurer, make sure they will do the job.  Your Treasurer will be responsible for filing campaign finance reports.  The candidate is ultimately responsible for this.
If you add a chairperson or treasurer after filing this Statement of Organization, you can update it with the county elections department.
You also need the name of the bank where you will maintain campaign funds.  You do not need an account number for the filing.
Your campaign committee name will appear on all your literature, signs, website, so choose something short that includes at least the candidate last name.  Make sure the county approves your committee name before you use it.  After you file, the county will provide you with a calendar of when you have to report campaign finance as well as how the reports are formatted.
That is outside the scope of this website.