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Board weighs IGAs to run Benson and Douglas recall elections; county to absorb part of cost under current fee schedule
Summary
Elections director told supervisors the county’s intergovernmental agreement charge is about 75¢ per registered voter; she estimated City of Douglas would pay most of ~$6,400 and Benson less than $3,000 under the current per‑voter fee, and warned the county could face operational hardship if it declined to run small-city elections.
Elections Director Melissa Avance briefed the Cochise County Board of Supervisors on Feb. 5 about two intergovernmental agreements to run recall elections for the cities of Benson and Douglas in May.
Avance said the IGA fee model currently in place charges roughly 75¢ per registered voter under longstanding county practice. She estimated Douglas has about 8,490 registered voters and Benson about 3,835; using the per‑voter formula, Avance said the city payments would be materially different, with Douglas bearing the larger share and Benson paying an amount that the elections office described as under $3,000.
Board members expressed concern about the county effectively subsidizing part of the elections under the current rate structure and discussed whether the county could decline to run a city election; Avance and county counsel staff explained Arizona statutes and operational realities mean many small cities lack the infrastructure to run their own elections and that declining an IGA could create significant logistical and legal complications.
Avance told the board that the statutory deadlines for ballot programming require timely action; she asked the board to consider the IGAs on the upcoming regular meeting agenda so elections‑office preparations can proceed. The board discussed possibly revisiting IGA fee levels at a later date but did not take a vote during the work session.
