
Jen Fifield
Reporter
Jen Fifield previously covered Maricopa County and Phoenix for The Arizona Republic, including the high-profile review of the county’s 2020 election. Prior to that, she covered politics and government for local newspapers in Maryland and state policy for Stateline, a news service run by The Pew Charitable Trusts. She has won several regional press awards in Arizona and Maryland for her investigative, feature, politics and education reporting. Jen is a Phoenix native and graduated from Arizona State University’s Cronkite School.
Pinal County’s inaccurate counts in 2022 were caused by human error. Counting ballots by hand won’t prevent that again.
Everything you need to know about Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli’s letter asserting the Legislature has “plenary authority” over how elections are run.
Lake and Abe Hamadeh get to argue their election challenges again this week. Here’s why the cases have dragged on so long — and what harm voting advocates say they continue to cause.
It took a statewide recount to ensure all ballots were counted correctly in Arizona’s midterm election. Experts say these four fixes would help improve accuracy in the future.
Virginia Ross had proof of inaccuracies that she didn’t flag before county supervisors certified the November election results, even as she told them she stood by the numbers — and then collected a $25,000 bonus.
Candidate was chosen by the Cochise County recorder who pushed for illegal hand counting of ballots and doubts the security of election equipment.
Republican supervisors of the southern Arizona county said they were not concerned that Bob Bartelsmeyer shared posts falsely claiming the 2020 presidential vote was rigged.
The report urges the county to replace the printers that couldn’t handle 2022’s heavy paper and long ballots.
After 2020, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer increased training for workers who review voter signatures, added an audit step in the process, and put more people on the job.
The veteran was not registered to vote and had been given documents showing as much before the 2022 election.
Even the Democratic secretary of state is a fan of Republican Sen. Ken Bennett’s bill to release digital images of cast ballots to the public.
Attorney General Kris Mayes calls the plan to empower election skeptic David Stevens an “unqualified handover.”
David Stevens, recorder of the southern Arizona county, will appoint the permanent elections director and take control of vote counting.
Maricopa County team includes retired Arizona Supreme Court justice, elections technology expert, and printer expert.
Under Attorney General Brnovich, Democrats called out the political agenda of the “election fraud unit.” Now, under Mayes, Republicans are saying the same.
Recorder David Stevens — a close ally to Mark Finchem — pursued the county’s illegal plan to hand count midterm ballots and stands to take more control of elections there.
Lisa Marra, who refused to cooperate with Republican officials’ illegal hand-count plan, describes a threatening work environment in letter to county.
Gov. Hobbs says last year’s problems, from equipment errors to the politics of certifying results, could provide a guide for improvements in 2023.
Mistakes uncovered by recount indicate Virginia Ross either did not catch errors or failed to disclose them before results were certified.
Some ballot images printed too small in Maricopa County. But county officials say that doesn’t mean voters were disenfranchised.
Much of Hamadeh’s election challenge advances to trial while courts swiftly dismiss nearly all of Lake’s and Finchem’s claims.
Votebeat analysis finds the county’s heavier paper combined with high voter turnout likely pushed aging printers past their limits.
The midterms are far from over.
In Maricopa County, residents lash out at supervisors and dismiss explanations of Election Day problems. In Cochise, supervisors postpone certification again.
Two counties have postponed until the last minute, but election lawyers say the courts will force the certification by the deadline no matter what.
The Republican supervisors are asking a judge to compel the elections director to expand the hand count audit of ballots in the midterm election.
Maricopa County is researching these provisional ballots from voters who left an original location and tried to vote elsewhere.
The fullest explanation the county has made so far about what went wrong.
When the machine wouldn’t take the ballot, voters were told to place their ballots into a slot on a secure box, which the county has labeled “door 3.”