PHOENIX (AP) — The former elections director for a rural Arizona county who resigned last year because a flap over the hand-counting of ballots has been elevated to a top electoral post for the state. Lisa Marra left her job in southeastern Arizona’s Cochise County last year after refusing to follow the directives of the area’s two GOP supervisors who wanted a hand count of ballots cast in the 2022 midterm. Marra later won a $130,000 settlement from the county to compensate for her treatment. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, in recent days appointed Marra as the state’s elections director.
