Mike Stauffer delivered a box full of petition sheets earlier today to the county elections office.  He’s the first candidate to submit nominating petitions for Maricopa County Sheriff. From Phoenix, KJZZ’s Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez reports.

NADINE ARROYO RODRIGUEZ: After an hour of tallying, county election officials counted 29-794 signatures in support of Mike Stauffer -- to run against the incumbent sheriff, Republican Joe Arpaio. Stauffer, a former New York City and Scottsdale police officer is running as an Independent. Candidates for Maricopa County Sheriff need at least 19,500 signatures. Stauffer says his campaign surpassed the minimum number to in order to withstand any challenges.

MIKE STAUFFER: If somebody decides to challenge and they can challenge, they have some time to challenge, but I’m confident that I will on the ballot in November. I am the only candidate right now that will be definitely be on the November ballot.

ARROYO RODRIGUEZ: Two other people have publicly announced their intent to run for Maricopa County Sheriff as Democrats, John Rowan and Paul Penzone. Arpaio has said he will run for re-election.