Governor Katie Hobbs on Friday appointed one Democratic and one Republican official to lead a bipartisan investigation into the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle Division after her administration confirmed it lacks confirmation of citizenship for more than 200,000 registered voters earlier this month.
Hobbs stated on Friday that she “directed MVD to work swiftly in coordination with election officials” immediately upon learning Arizona lacked citizenship information for approximately 218,000 voters, and on Friday launched what her office called, “an independent, bipartisan audit of MVD policies.”
The governor selected Coconino County Recorder Patty Hansen (pictured above, left), a Democrat, and former Yuma County Recorder Robyn Stallworth-Pouquette, a Republican (pictured above, right), to lead the review.
“I’m thankful to Recorders Hansen and Stallworth-Pouquette for bringing bipartisan leadership to this independent audit and I look forward to reviewing their findings,” said Hobbs in a statement.
Stallworth-Pouquette left her position at the Yuma County Recorder’s office in 2022, which controversial Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer called a “[h]uge loss” to Arizona’s community of election officials in a post to the social media platform X.
“Huge loss to the recording and elections community of Arizona. Robyn is our fearless leader as president of the AZ Recorders’ Association, and she’s excellent at her job,” wrote Richer, before wishing Stallworth-Pouquette “less drama” in her new position.
In reply, Stallworth-Pouquette thanked Richer, and wrote, “Arizona is very lucky to have you!”
Huge loss to the recording and elections community of Arizona. Robyn is our fearless leader as president of the AZ Recorders' Association, and she's excellent at her job.
I'm sure she will be great in her next role. I hope there's less drama. @RPouquette https://t.co/zeTWLBFOW6
— Stephen Richer—MaricopaCountyRecorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) June 14, 2022
Stallworth-Pouquette additionally once shared a post to the X platform that Richer wrote in 2021, when the Maricopa County official criticized the audit of the 2020 election results in Arizona performed under the auspices of the Arizona State Senate.
Richer was ousted during the Republican Primary in Maricopa County earlier this year, after he was successfully challenged by Arizona State Representative Justin Heap (R-Mesa), amid intense criticism over his claim there were only “minor” issues that affected voters during the 2022 midterm elections.
In a concession post to X, Richer wrote, “It’s been a privilege. Thank you. Elections have winners and, sadly, losers. And in this one, it looks like I’m going to end up on the losing side of the column. But that’s the name of the game. Accept it. Move on.”
Richer vowed to spend his remaining time in office working to “ensure the continued efficient and lawful execution of my duties in recording, voter registration, and mail voting,” ahead of the 2024 elections.
In August, Richer was ordered to pay more than $25,000 to Arizona election integrity activist Merissa Hamilton after she was required to produce more than 100,000 documents to comply with his subpoena.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Patty Hansen” by and Coconino County “Robyn Stallworth-Pouquette” by Robyn Stallworth-Pouquette.
