The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has voted to discontinue the joint oversight of the Elections Department with the county recorder.
The board will employ its director of elections to oversee the areas it is responsible for.
The goal of the agreement sets specific duties and responsibilities for the Board of Supervisors and county recorder. Much of the tasks were already handled by those offices.
For example the supervisors are responsible for tallying election results, and the recorder is responsible for voter registration.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer says the hope is to bring clarity.
“I hope that this new agreement will allow us to meet communication needs faster and more flexibly, and I hope it will give the public a better sense of who is speaking on what items and whom they need to contact should they have any questions," said Richer.
The board hopes it also reduces overlapping of duties.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct that the Elections Department will continue, but joint oversight with the Maricopa County Recorder's Office will be discontinued.
