Briefing: Arizona’s Election Threats and What They Mean for Business
Inside Arizona’s 2026 Elections
Which threats are real, and what they mean for business leaders.
Three weeks ahead of Election Day, business leaders and associations joined Leadership Now Arizona for a candid conversation on Arizona’s elections and what to know before November 3.
A sitting county recorder, the former sheriff of Arizona’s largest county, a policy strategist, and the reporter covering the beat walked through what the weeks around Election Day look like from inside the process, where certification disputes, litigation, and federal involvement could actually affect Arizona, and where the noise is.
Watch the Briefing
Speakers
- Dana Lewis, Pinal County Recorder (R)
- Paul Penzone, former Maricopa County Sheriff (D)
- Travis Bruner, Policy Strategist, Protect Democracy
- Sasha Hupka, Reporter, Votebeat
- Adam Goodman, Co-Founder, Leadership Now Arizona (moderator)
Key Takeaways
The critical window runs past November 3. Travis Bruner of Protect Democracy noted that many of the risks his team tracks fall between Election Day and certification. Arizona counties must complete their canvass by November 19, and Congress convenes January 3.
The legal guardrails are holding. States run elections, certification is a ministerial duty rather than a discretionary one, and federal law bars armed agents at polling places, voter intimidation, and mass voter purges within 90 days of an election.
Transparency is built into the count. Pinal County Recorder Dana Lewis described how voters can watch signature verification, ballot transfers, and tabulation in person, and how bipartisan teams and close coordination with law enforcement protect chain of custody.
Preparation starts months before the vote. Former Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone recalled how the 2020 protests outside the county’s tabulation center grew from a few dozen people to nearly 1,000 within days, and why law enforcement now coordinates with election officials well in advance.
“When you affect perception, you affect trust. When you affect trust, you affect democracy.”
Paul Penzone, former Maricopa County SheriffThink like a journalist. Votebeat’s Sasha Hupka urged viewers to ask for the facts behind a claim and to be willing to accept them. When Maricopa County’s noncitizen voter claims were reviewed by the county attorney, most of those flagged turned out to be citizens.
What Employers Can Do
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, 78% of employees trust their employer as a source of information, more than government officials or the media. That gives business leaders a steadying role before, during, and after Election Day: share facts from trusted sources, give the process time to work, encourage employees to vote and serve as poll workers, and stand behind Arizona’s trained, certified election workers.
Six Arizona executives made that case in two new videos from Leadership Now Arizona.
Watch the VideosShare This Briefing
This is a public briefing. Please share the recording with your employees, boards, and colleagues.
Leadership Now Arizona is a cross-partisan coalition of Arizona business and community leaders—Republicans, Independents, and Democrats—who believe a strong democracy is essential to a strong economy. It is an affiliate of Leadership Now Project, a coalition of business leaders shaping the talent and policies for America’s next chapter.
