Tim Stringham says elections are not rigged, pledges to be Maricopa County recorder for all parties

“The majority of people believe the elections are fair. We just want to keep building on that, chipping away over time, making sure we earn people’s trust.” — Tim Stringham

Maricopa County, the fourth-most populous county in the US, will have a new recorder in 2025. One of the candidates running for the job, Republican Justin Heap, has refused to admit that the 2020 and 2022 elections were free and fair.

The Democratic candidate, Tim Stringham, has clearly stated that he knows the last two elections in Arizona were not rigged in any way.

“I do believe that the 2020 and 2022 elections were free and fair,” Stringham said. He noted that there’s a difference between saying an election was unfair and acknowledging that the voting process could be smoother.

“If you were waiting in line for a polling place in 2022 and your polling place was delayed because of a printer issue, that’s a valid issue and I think we always need to look to improve our elections.”

Who Is Tim Stringham?

Stringham, 35, graduated from Arizona State University then served in both the US Army, where he did a tour in Afghanistan, and in the Navy as an attorney. He said his main reasons for getting in the race were basic concerns about democracy, and a worry that good people are being driven out of politics.

One of those good people he mentioned was Stephen Richer, the current Maricopa County recorder.

Richer, a Republican, was ousted by his own party this year in the primary election when he ran as the incumbent for county recorder. Heap defeated Richer by about 32,000 votes, and will now face Stringham in the Nov. 5 election.

Richer has been a staunch critic of election deniers like fellow Arizona Republican Kari Lake. He has repeatedly tried to educate people on social media about how the election and ballot counting processes work.

Online trolls and US Senate candidate Lake accused Richer of intentionally causing counting problems and “injecting” 300,000 ballots into the system in the 2022 election, when Lake lost the governorship to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

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“If Stephen Richer were rigging elections, he would’ve started with his own,” Stringham said. “I think there are probably some people who already voted against him in the primary that are starting to wonder if maybe they got it wrong.”

Richer has also been subjected to a fellow Republican saying she would like to lynch him.

“I’m somebody who at age 23 was leading troops in Afghanistan…I’ve been all over the world in support of democracy. I’m not going to be intimidated in my hometown,” Stringham said.

Stringham said he’s talked to several Republicans who would have voted for Richer in the general election, but who will now be supporting him.

“There are really, really good Republicans and they don’t really have a home and a political party anymore,” he said.

Heap, a state representative from Mesa, hasn’t outright declared himself an election denier, but he is a member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus. The Arizona Freedom Caucus is home to election deniers like state Sen. Jake Hoffman. Hoffman was one of the fake electors who attempted to overturn the results of Arizona’s 2020 election.

The Maricopa County recorder is responsible for the public recording of millions of documents in the county, but the major duty the office is known for is administering the mail-in voting process and maintaining voter registration.

As a state representative, Heap voted in favor of legislation that would eliminate no-excuse early voting.

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“I think you should be able to vote either early by mail or wherever,” Stringham said. “It’s convenient when you have time on your lunch break to go to the nearest voting center. You should not feel pressure to drive home and get in line by 7 p.m. at night. And I say that even for the people who aren’t going to vote for me.”

The recorder’s office is mostly administration, and Richer told the Arizona Mirror that electing someone like Heap could result in the office losing staff who are knowledgeable and professional.

Stringham said that things could be improved in the office by better allocating manpower and workers, but he believes that it’s a mistake for people to focus too closely on the speed of the vote count—a complaint that came up in 2020.

“When you vote for president, you’re making a decision to hire someone for a four-year period,” he said. “The emphasis on speed is misplaced. The number one most important job of the elections department is to make sure we have accurate results.”

“Let’s not be so obsessed with getting results quickly that we’re willing to make mistakes.”

Editor’s note: An earlier version of the story incorrectly claimed Arizona Sen. Wendy Rogers was part of the Arizona Freedom Caucus. Rogers is not part of the Arizona Freedom Caucus.