PHOENIX — These might be the most important elections on your 2024 ballot - not for president, but for the six elected Maricopa County officials who oversee your vote.
The five Republicans and lone Democrat have stood up to relentless attacks by people who insist, without evidence, that the defeats of Republican candidates for president and governor were "rigged."
With Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates' announcement last week that he won't run for re-election in 2024, potential candidates are taking a close look at the race.
'Future of elections at stake'
Challengers for at least four of the five County Board seats are likely, as well as for Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, who oversees early voting.
"The future of our elections are at stake here," said County Supervisor Steve Gallardo, the lone Democrat on the board.
"Democracy is going to be at stake."
Fourteen months before the primary elections, it appears likely that the county board that emerges after the 2024 elections could be very different from the Republican-majority body of the last three decades.
Here's what we know:
Maricopa in the spotlight - again
For a fourth consecutive election cycle in 2024, voters in Arizona and its largest county, Maricopa, will have an outsized say over which party controls the U.S. Senate. For the second consecutive cycle, Maricopa County voters will provide a vital stepping stone to the White House.
Maricopa County's new status as a swing county has put it in the crosshairs of Republicans seeking to take back their decades-long domination of the county vote.
The Republican-controlled, five-member County Board regained its oversight of county elections in 2020.
Since then, the four Republicans and lone Democrat have spoken with one voice in repelling Republican attacks on the elections' results and procedures
2 new swing districts
There are no guarantees the next board will put up as vigorous a defense.
The 2024 election will be the first for the county board in which Donald Trump's and Kari Lake's supporters - in other words, the Republican base that votes in primaries - can cast a ballot reflecting their grievances over the candidates' defeats.
Two of the five board seats are now swing seats in purple districts trending Democratic.
Hobbs outperformed in GOP districts
The results of the 2022 midterm elections affirmed that Gates' and Republican Supervisor Jack Sellers' districts are in play in 2024.
In 2020, the veteran Republican politicians barely survived re-election challenges from Democratic newcomers. Sellers' victory margin was just 403 votes.
In 2022, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs trounced Republican Kari Lake in both districts, despite winning the countywide vote by just 2.4 percentage points.
According to data analyst Sam Almy, of Uplift Campaigns:
-Hobbs took Sellers' District 1 in the east Valley by 7 points.
-In Gates' District 3, cutting from north to south through the center of Phoenix, Hobbs won by 8 points.
Should both districts vote Democratic, and assuming Gallardo wins his safe Democratic seat, the board would be controlled by Democrats.
Tough GOP primaries likely
Supervisor Clint Hickman, a Republican from a solid red West Valley district, hasn't decided whether he'll run again.
Hickman not only faced personal attacks from election deniers, but his family egg business was the target of a bizarre conspiracy claim involving a chicken coop fire.
A primary campaign by a Trump Republican is likely. Could Hickman survive it if he chose to run? It's an open question.
Republican Supervisor Thomas Galvin, a land-use attorney, is planning to run for a full four-year term.
He won a special election in 2022 to fill out the remaining term of a supervisor who had resigned.
Galvin garnered 38 % of the GOP primary vote. Two of his three opponents claimed the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
One other election official to watch: Republican Recorder Stephen Richer. Richer says "he thinks" he's running for re-election. He, too, would likely face a primary against a Trump/Lake supporter.
Up to Speed
Catch up on the latest news and stories on the 12News YouTube channel. Subscribe today.