Five candidates have taken steps to pursue the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office in 2020. Four Republicans — Joe Arpaio, Mike Crawford, Lehland Burton and Gerry Sheridan — and incumbent Democrat Paul Penzone have filed statements of interest to run for sheriff.
A new requirement passed by lawmakers in the last session requires the candidates to file the statement of interest before collecting signatures.
All five people, and an additional candidate, William Hall, have formed campaign finance committees by filing statements of organization.
Megan Gilbertson with the Maricopa County Elections Department says the next step toward getting on the ballot will be for candidates to gather signatures.
“We base signature requirements on voter registration totals, based on January 2nd 2020 totals," Gilberston said.
She said the thresholds for the last county wide office elections in 2018 were about 3,800 signatures for Republicans and 3,400 signatures for Democrats.
Gilbertson says those numbers likely will be higher as voter registration has increased.
Candidates will have until April 6, 2020 to submit all nomination papers and nomination petition signatures to the county to get on the ballot.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Joe Arpaio's name.
