The Yavapai County Board of Supervisors approved Resolution 2099 — which urges the governor and legislature to work with counties to improve the statutory election process to ensure free and fair elections — by a 3-2 vote at its meeting on Jan. 4.
Vice Chairman and District 1 Supervisor Harry Oberg and Supervisor District 3 Donna Michaels were the dissenting votes.
Michaels said that by approving the resolution, the board would create the perception that there was something amiss with the 2022 election process, which she thought would cause unnecessary controversy.
Oberg emphasized the state’s responsibility for overseeing the electoral process and the need to reassure residents’ trust in that process.
Conversely, Chairman and District 2 Supervisor James Gregory stated that the although the latest election passed a logic and accuracy test [a sample audit of 2,500 votes was recounted with only 3 votes difference for 99.88% accuracy], and that Yavapai County does a good job with their elections, there is always room for improvement and there must be meaningful changes to improve the process in both the county and the state.
District 4 Supervisor Craig Brown and District 5 Supervisor Mary Mallory similarly agreed that whether the election lacked integrity or not, the resolution was a step in the right direction to ensure continued accuracy and to show the community that their concerns had been heard and understood.
However, the board approved the resolution prior to the scheduled public comment, stating that the public had previously had time to voice their opinions on the subject.
When the board did take public comments, a number of residents voiced their dissatisfaction with the recent election. Multiple speakers emphasized their desire to have ballot drop boxes removed.
“We need to eliminate all voting machines and grind them to dust,” Joann Pierce said. She called for one-day voting, no early ballots and a manual count of all ballots, with results released on the same day.
Jan Baron stressed the importance of smaller precincts. Steve Zipperman, an Arizona State Senate candidate who lost in the 2022 Republican primary, stated that the founding fathers would be appalled at this process and that a neutral, outside consultant should be hired to find irregularities in the machines and software. He also found it very offensive that the public was not able to speak before the approval of the resolution.
Other residents complained about the timeliness of the election results, with many seeing no reason they should not have been released within 24 hours.
The board also conducted a hearing for the Yavapai County 2022 Comprehensive Plan, which acts as a roadmap for safe, responsible growth and development in the county. It addresses the eight elements of land use, growth areas, transportation, water resources, energy, open space, environmental concerns and cost of development. Arizona counties must adopt or readopt a plan every 10 years. The plan was last updated in 2012 and the new update process began early in 2020.
The board stressed the importance of community involvement in updating the plan. The update team held over 50 outreach meetings to hear public input over a period of 20 months.
The land use element of the new plan will create new land use categories to be more directive. There were previously only three categories for all zoning, rural community, transitional and municipal growth, and these proved difficult to use in rezoning and land use decisions.
The transportation section will update current and future projects and classifications of roadways and ratings. It will emphasize public safety, county roads and public transit to improve access for rural communities and reduce congestion.
The open space and preservation sections will be updated with references to new state and federal legislation for conservation, will add two additional goals and 26 new policies [compared to eight in the previous plan] and will focus these policies on preserving natural open space and providing support for agriculture.
The water resources element will update current water laws and regulations with regard to the status of county availability and federal regulations and replace three water-related goals with 13.
The growth areas section, which is required for counties with a population greater than 200,000, like Yavapai County, depicts specific areas where growth is needed. The update defines 15 areas with reasons for future investment in infrastructure or development. The previous plan did not specify any growth areas that differed from the land use map.
The environmental planning section will include 12 goals, 73 policies and 32 recommendations to better provide guidance and support to preserve the natural environment. Many residents stressed a desire to stay dark-sky friendly, and the updated plan will support this.
The energy element of the plan details current energy conditions and availability. While the previous plan only touched briefly on solar and other renewable resources, the updated plan goes into much more detail on options for solar, batteries and other energy options.
The cost of development section designates opportunities for funding sources and options that the county and developers can use to provide infrastructure for new and existing developments.
The comprehensive plan is a living document and can always be changed. A final hearing on the updated plan will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 18.
For more information on the plan, visit planningyavapai2032.org.
