Karen Osborne has been leading the Maricopa County Elections Department for 15 years. Osborne sat down with the Arizona Capitol Times on Oct. 12 to discuss elections reforms, past voting controversies and what the future holds for voters.

A jailed Green Party nominee who withdrew from the Corporation Commission race and then revoked his withdrawal moments later was disqualified to run for office, a judge ruled Sept. 14.

The Sheriff's captain who last year headed up a secretive political committee that broke campaign finance laws in its efforts to support Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is threatening to sue the county for "emotional distress" and investigate county officials for federal crimes unless it pays him $75,000.

A Maricopa County Sheriff's deputy avoided a six-figure fine earlier this year for violating state campaign finance law, but he and others involved in the imbroglio may be facing criminal charges for their actions.

The Arizona Republican Party last year returned a six-figure contribution that came from an unregistered political committee, but nearly all of that money ended up back in the party's coffers before November's elections. Four business owners gave the state Republican Party a total of $90,000 last fall, only days after the party was forced to return $105,000 to a group known only as SCA.