From the Associated Press' Jonathan Cooper as published in the Beaumont Enterprise "A rural Arizona county where leaders have embraced voting machine conspiracies on Tuesday hired an elections director who has promoted the false claims that voter fraud cost former President Donald Trump reelection in 2020. The two Republicans on the three-member Cochise County Board of Supervisors voted to hire Bob Bartelsmeyer, who shared memes on his personal Facebook page supporting Trump's claims of fraud and promoting the lie that Dominion voting machines manipulated the outcome."
Voters in Cochise County raised alarms about Bartelsmeyer's work history, resume and fairness to take on the position of county Election Director. I reviewed Bartelsmeyer's work history and resume submitted to the county for the job and as an employer what stood out to me is a 10 year gap in his employment history. What did he do between 2010 and 2022 when he was hired by La Paz county?
I also wonder if the county did a background check on this guy? Apparently it was very easy to find his partisan and conspiracy laden posts about the 2020 election on Facebook. That certainly would be enough of a reason not to hire this man to oversee the processing of ballots in an election.
But the Republican majority on the board of supervisors went ahead and allowed County Recorder (R), David Stevens to hire him anyway.
The circus that came to town in the aftermath on the 2022 general election hasn't left our county. In fact in has pitched a tent for a long stay. Beware!
