Arizona Republican businessman and candidate for Maricopa County Recorder in 2024, Steven Hines, has started identifying and listing specific ideas on how to improve the early voting process in Maricopa County.
Hines announced his candidacy for the position last week stating that if voters choose him as Maricopa County Recorder for 2024 he would “vastly improve” voting accuracy, security, and traceability.
He also said that he would not run for Recorder if he thought the Maricopa County early voting process was “tight” adding that there are several areas of weakness that he has identified and he has specific ideas on how to close those gaps and provide better transparency.
Since his candidacy announcement, Hines has released a list of six ideas for improving early voting in Maricopa County.
According to Hines, one area of early voting improvement is to add an additional stage of voter eligibility checking.
The voter registration database is currently reconciled by a third-party vendor used by the recorder’s office. Voter registration information is sent to the vendor by the recorder’s registration division, which then provides a list of the records that are still valid. The recorders office would then update the registration database.
Hines says that after the 3rd party vendor reconciliation, they should add another automated stage of voter eligibility validation managed entirely by the recorder’s office.
According to Hines, the 3rd party vendor may use something other than the most recent national change of address or Social Security Number data for reconciliation and the additional check would detect that.
“This solution would detect that and allow Maricopa County to work with the vendor to improve its process or justify the removal of the vendor’s solution,” Hines said.
Another idea of Hines is to redesign the registration database design by maintaining a version history of every voter registration record. In order to make the registration database highly traceable and auditable no one would be able to modify or remove any version of a voter registration record. The records would also have timestamps with the date of creation and identification of the creator.
Hines says that this will “improve public confidence in processes and systems managing voter registrations.”
Hines also wants to implement pre-election third-party security and accuracy audits of all databases used by and on behalf of the Recorder’s office. This audit would also generate a viewable public report.
Hines says that this audit would “improve public confidence in processes and systems managing voter registrations. Also, to give pause to potential would-be internal nefarious actors.”
Another way Hines wants to improve the early voting process is to create an automatic proactive voter registration acknowledgment solution that would send texts, emails, and voice message reminders to voters with deactivated registrations or who need to correct information on their registration.
According to Hines, this “Adds another layer of diligence to voter registration management. Also, proactive community outreach will improve public confidence in the early voting process.”
Another initiative Hines wants to implement is replacing voter ID by signature with voter ID by fingerprint with inkless fingerprint capture technology. This would allow for a reduction in early voting staff, offsetting some of the ballot generation costs.
Lastly, Hines wants voters to be able to view a digital image of their mail ballot online by searching the serial number printed on the ballot. This would be available only on an opt-in basis.
Hines says his “General objective is to help heal the divide” in Maricopa County “By rebuilding trust in the recorder’s office by way of accountability, professionalism, and transparency.”
Hines is an Engineer and the founder of Arbitral a social media system for bringing accountability to the media. He is a self-proclaimed IT expert with over 30 years of experience designing and managing data management systems.
Current Maricopa County Reporter Republican Stephen Richer who voters elected to the position in 2020 has reportedly said he plans to run for a second term in 2024 however, he has yet to officially announce his campaign.
Hines is the first Republican to announce a candidacy for this position.
– – –
Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star, The Star News Network, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Maricopa County Ballot Processing” by Maricopa County Elections.
