1.06

Control Environment

Principle 1: Demonstrate Commitment to Integrity and Ethical Values

Attribute 1.06: Management establishes standards of conduct to communicate expectations concerning integrity and ethical values. The entity uses ethical values to balance the needs and concerns of different stakeholders, such as regulators, service organizations, employees, and the public. The standards of conduct guide the directives, attitudes, and behaviors of the organization in achieving its objectives.

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Jamie's Story

June 25, 2025: Runbeck Contract Delivered

The absence of documentation justifying the need for changes to the Runbeck contract and inconsistent approval signatures may have been ethical issues. The necessity of the change may have been clear to MC and Runbeck. However, the need for these contract changes cannot be determined by an external party, such as a member of the public.

Election Anomalies

Arizona Senate Allegations

As already noted in Green Book Attribute 1.01, 1.02, 1.03 and 1.04 Arizona Senate allegations arose from a failure to recognize the Arizona Senates Oversight Role. These allegations were investigated and reported on by the Arizona Attorney General's Office 2020 General Election Investigation. The elected officials were considered as a possible oversight entity for MC operations.

This Green Book attribute emphasizes "Tone at the top can be either a driver, as shown in the preceding paragraphs, or a barrier to internal control." The MCBOS didn't cooperated with the Senate. The MCBOS did not respond to subpoenas issued (twice) by the Senate. Instead, the MCBOS chose to pursue court remedies to keep their information private and prevent outsiders from inspecting their equipment. If this is the tone at the top, how do you think subordinates would respond to inquiries?

This potential deviation from the Green Book standard applies to the following Arizona Senate Allegations:

• Allegation #1 Signature Verification
• Allegation #2, Maricopa Dropbox Collection (2020)
  • Standards were not evident with the following findings from AZ AG's inspector:
    • See the heading Deviation: Missing Entries on Election Forms from Maricopa Dropbox Collection (2020) webpage.
    • See the heading Deviation: Missing Ballot Counts from Maricopa Dropbox Collection (2020) webpage.
    • See the heading Deviation: Used Email instead of EVBTS Forms from Maricopa Dropbox Collection (2020) webpage.
    • See the heading Deviation: Unfulfilled Party Representation Requirements for Couriers from Maricopa Dropbox Collection (2020) webpage.
    • See the heading Deviation: Fictious Addresses in MC Voter Registration Database from Maricopa Dropbox Collection (2020) webpage.
    • See the heading Deviation: Allegations Confirmed from Maricopa Dropbox Collection (2020) webpage.

• Allegation #4, Maricopa County Withholding Audit Data (2020)
  • The uncooperative tone is clearly displayed by the MCBOS and MCBOS member Bill Gates.
• Allegation #5, Pima County Embedded 35,000 Votes (2020)
• Allegation #6, Unknown Published Election Fraud Flyer (2020)

Maricopa County Directs the Use of Sharpie Pens

This Green Book Attribute, 1.06, emphasizes the code of conduct as an aspect of integrity and ethics. The email is directing people to use Sharpie Markers with known issues and concerns. This action is contrary to any remedial action to address a deficiency. The following unethical practices were revealed by this Maricopa County email:

• Maricopa County Leader directed the use of Sharpie Markers on Election Day contrary to their acknowledgement of issues arising from the use of Sharpie Markers, which had occurred prior to October 22, 2020. Maricopa County Leader asked personnel to stop using Sharpie Markers and use Ballpoint Pens until the Election Day in an apparent attempt to prevent premature escalation of the issue until after the election.
• Inspectors were the target audience of this email message. The inspectors were informed of issues and concerns with Sharpie Markers. Yet, the email asked inspectors to intentionally distribute Sharpie Pens on Election Day after issues and concerns with the use of Sharpie Pens had been identified. The very people (i.e., inspectors) that should have been ensuring secure elections apparently complied with the request to distributed Sharpie Marker to voters on Election Day, even though there were know issues with Sharpie Markers. The Maricopa County Leader seeks to ensure everyone is passing out Sharpie Markers contrary to the ballot instructions. Everyone is alerted to issues and concerns with the Sharpie Markers, but apparently no one questioned their extensive use on Election Day. This email message was delivered by the Elections Department Assistant Director for Recruitment and Training. In this case, numerous temporary workers are hired for a short period of time, for the single purpose of supporting an election. The Assistant Director for Recruitment and Training would have been more influential to newly hired temporary workers. It seems odd that a staff management position (i.e., Training) would be communicating a line management decision, or what should be a line management decision.
• An investigation into 2022 Mid-term election anomalies confirmed that Sharpie Markers bled through some ballots, which would be consistent with the reports of "issues and concerns" identified with the use of Sharpie Markers before October 22, 2020.
• As Maricopa County tells the story, they were concerned about long lines at voting centers. Their story goes on to attribute ballot tabulator fouling as the cause of long lines; delays and long lines occurred when voting stopped to clean the tabulators. They attributed fouling of the ballot tabulator to the wet ink from ballpoint pens being transferred to the tabulator. Their solution was to distribute Sharpie Markers at the Voting Centers to the voters; Sharpie ink apparently dries faster than ballpoint pen ink. The problem with their story is that it sounds more like an excuse than a plan. If any part of their story had been documented, which showed a thoughtful investigation, then most of the public's suspicions of foul play even would have been resolved, even if the corrective action to use Sharpie Markers was wrong.