Much of Maricopa County's preparation for November has been focused on increasing physical security in the face of high tension and disinformation around previous elections. But officials here are also trying to win voters' hearts and minds. The office of county recorder Stephen Richer has given more than 100 public tours of the county's ballot tabulation facility since he was elected in 2020, just before an onslaught of disinformation questioning President Joe Biden's win culminated in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Arizona, which Trump lost to Biden by some 10,000 votes, was a flashpoint for conspiracy theories about lost votes and illegal ballot harvesting -- many of which AFP debunked.
