Arizona CEOs warn election disputes could hurt economy
In the Arizona Capitol Times, Leadership Now Arizona co-founders John Fees, CEO of GradGuard, and Adam Goodman, CEO of Goodmans, explain why Arizona’s business community is preparing now to stand behind legitimate election results this November.
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Fees and Goodman have recruited 60 Arizona business leaders to sign the “Election Legitimacy Is an Economic Imperative” pledge. They make an economic case. Political volatility weighs on investment, employees, and communities. An election contested for months would create uncertainty that hurts Arizona’s economy.
The effort is also a response to what didn’t happen last time. Fees tells the Capitol Times that no one in Arizona’s business community publicly condemned the 2021 Cyber Ninjas review of Maricopa County’s 2020 results. Since then, Arizona has become a proving ground for election conspiracy theories that now circulate nationally. Fees sees a real chance that this year’s results are contested for an extended period. Leadership Now Arizona exists so employers are ready to respond with clarity if that happens.
“We need to wake up a bit in the business community.”
Leadership Now’s political risk framework helps business leaders track the warning signs. These include voter confidence in results, restrictions on mail ballots, threats against poll workers, and deployments of federal officers to polling places. Leadership Now CEO Daniella Ballou-Aares points to the distinct role local business leaders can play: showing that business can be part of the solution.
Fees’ advice to fellow Arizona employers:
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See the process firsthand
Tour the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center.
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Staff the polls
Encourage employees to serve as poll workers. Fees and Goodman give their teams paid time off to do it.
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Meet the professionals
Sit down with an election administrator to learn how ballots are processed and counted.
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Set a clear standard for candidates
Candidates seeking business support should be able to acknowledge certified election results.
