From the moment Gov. Doug Ducey called a state of emergency to combat the spread of COVID-19, political candidates, campaign staffs and election officials began to plan how to tackle elections in the coming months.

Independent Voters are not going to go away. Our Nation needs all the positive voices it can get and the parties don’t own all of them by any means. At some point this will become so broadly clear that it can no longer be ignored. We – and the parties – have a lot of work to do.

As suspended County Assessor Paul Petersen fends for his job in a hearing Wednesday, his attorney has leveled conflict-of-interest allegations against Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel similar to what led to the downfall of her predecessor Andy Thomas.

All Teresa Moore wants is a fair shot at the fundamental right to vote.

A fiery debate at the party’s state committee meeting pitted party loyalists worried about legal expenses against younger activists, who argued that opening the primary election lives up to the party ideal of expanding voting rights.

After two election cycles marred by long lines and unfounded accusations of partisan bias, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved changes on June 26 to the way the county hosts elections.

Amid lingering frustrations over the 2018 election – with Republican accusations that a Democrat in charge of ballots in Arizona’s most populous county had mucked up the process– a flurry of election-related bills were introduced this year.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich warned Monday that people "need to be really careful when making serious allegations'' about election fraud or other issues or risk undermining democracy.

Republicans still hold the majority at the Legislature and significant posts at the state level, and they're not afraid to exercise that power.

As the first Democrat to be elected as recorder in Maricopa County in decades, Adrian Fontes has also served as a punching bag for Republicans, for reasons both legitimate and political.