5.01

Control Environment

Principle 5 - Enforce Accountability

Attribute 5.01 - Management should evaluate performance and hold individuals accountable for their internal control responsibilities.

Green Book Attribute Categories:

The following attributes contribute to the design, implementation, and operating effectiveness of this principle:

• Enforcement of Accountability
• Consideration of Excessive Pressures

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Jamie's Story

June 25, 2025: Runbeck Contract Delivered

The inconsistent use of approval signatures for contract changes suggest personnel were not being held accountable to being diligent with contract changes.

November 20, 2025: Debbie Lesko Presentation

Debbie Lesko provides an oversight role as a member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS). Her presentation of why two boxes of ballots could not be located for three days following a November 2025 election parroted the Election's Department statementfrom November 7, 2025. She seemed to be accepting of people not following procedures to place the boxes of ballots in an unauthorized location for transport and how fortuitous it was that they had coincidently been stored in an area with 24-hour surveillance. Hence, a person in an oversight role did not communicate that management would be held accountable to address this ongoing issue with election processes.

June 9, 2026: Maricopa County Ombudsman Replies

The Maricopa County Ombudsman was not fulfilling the expected Ombudsman to listen to citizen issues and conduct an independent investigation accordingly. In this case, the Ombudsman read remail, referred the request to another department and informed Jamie of the action she had taken. Management apparently accepts the "kick-the-can" approach to Ombudsman activities.

Election Anomalies

Arizona Attorney General's Office 2020 Election Investigation

Potential governance gaps were identified by the Assessment Team from the Arizona Attorney General's Office 2020 General Election Investigation of Arizona Senate allegations. This Green Book attribute is relevant to all of the allegations submitted by the Arizona Senate since MC Elected Officials and MC leadership failed to recognize the importance of the Arizona Senate's oversight role. Investigative information was withheld by MC Elected Officials and MC Leadership, which ultimately lead to the Arizona Senate formally filing their allegations with the Arizona Attorney General. The public perceives MC leadership as lacking integrity and being unethical when they withhold information from the public and oversight entities, such as the Arizona Senate. This potential deviation from the Green Book standard applies to the following Arizona Senate Allegations:

• Maricopa Signature Verification (2020)
  • Signature Verification training was provided to 33 Maricopa County employees. In contrast, Signature Verification training was not provided to 40 temporary workers performing the same duties.
• Maricopa Dropbox Collection (2020)
  • 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.

• Maricopa Election Management Server (2020)
  • MC EMS 2020 - Failure to Follow Basic Cyber Security Practices
    • The security measures for drop box collection have procedural controls and are more stringent than the two-person rule (with unknown documentation and enforcement practices) needer for access to the EMS server, which hold over 1.9 million early ballot records.
  • MC EMS 2020 - Subpoenaed Equipment Not Yet Provided
  • MC EMS 2020 - Anonymous Logins
  • MC EMS 2020 - Dual Boot System Discovered
  • MC EMS 2020 - Operating System Logs Not Preserved
  • MC EMS 2020 - Internet Connections to the EMS
• Maricopa County Withholding Audit Data (2020)
• Maricopa County Signature Verification (2020)
• Pima County Embedded 35,000 Votes (2020)
• Unknown Published Election Fraud Flyer (2020)

Maricopa Dropbox Collection (2020)

Governance issues identified from Arizona Attorney General's Office 2020 General Election Investigation of Arizona Senate allegations of Maricopa County Election Department - Drop Box Collections issues. Less than adequate accountability was in place to allow the five procedure violations and a large chain of custody gap allowing a potentially large numbers of fraudulent ballots to be introduced into the system for tabulation.

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.

• See the heading Noteworthy: Consequences Unknown from Maricopa Dropbox Collection (2020) webpage
• See the heading Noteworthy: Transmission of USPS Data to MC and Runbeck from Maricopa Dropbox Collection (2020) webpage

2020 Maricopa County Directs Use of Sharpie Pens

The Maricopa County Assistant Director of Recruitment and Training directed unethical activities, apparently using the senior management position to informally instruct personnel to use Sharpie Markers on Election Day, even though issues and concerns had been previously identifed. This senior management person wasn't holding election personnel to doing the right thing.