Opinion: For the second time in a year, the Maricopa County recorder attempts to courteously correct misinformation spread on social media by the billionaire.
Arizona Republic
A less polite, less patient, less polished individual — me, for instance — would simply have told Elon Musk that he’s full of you-know-what.
But that is not Stephen Richer’s way.
The Maricopa County recorder is a reasoned, courteous person, one who would rather enter into a dialogue than launch into a diatribe, even when the person to whom he is reaching out may not deserve such deference.
And Elon Musk does not.
Particularly since this isn’t the first time that Musk’s willingness to spread misinformation and easily debunked conspiracies has come Richer’s way.
Recorder invites Elon Musk to see the process
This time around, the billionaire posted to his 189 million followers on X, formerly Twitter, which he owns, “Electronic voting machines and anything mailed in is too risky. We should mandate paper ballots and in-person voting only.”
As any number of baseless lawsuits by people like Kari Lake and Mark Finchem have proven that such statements are simply BS.
It’s one of the reasons Lake decided not to challenge the defamation suit Richer filed against her in a case for which the only thing left unresolved is how much Lake owes Richer in damages.
In responding to Musk’s terse, ignorant claims about machines and ballots, Richer politely invited the ill-informed mogul to visit him at the county’s offices.
Stephen Richer politely asks Musk for expertise
Richer wrote:
“Can I please give you a tour of our election facility and mail voting process (Maricopa County, AZ)?
“You can go into all the rooms. You can examine all the equipment. You can ask any question you want.
“We’d love to show you the security steps already in place, which I think are very sound.
“And then of course we’d love to hear any recommendations for improvement (as long as consistent with state and federal law — which we don’t write, but have to follow).
“Would be pretty neat to put one of the world’s best entrepreneurial brains on to election administration. Probably more productive than just social media analysis.
“Thanks very much for considering!”
Does Musk care to know how elections work?
Richer is happy to explain exactly how the process of collecting, verifying and counting votes is done. He has conducted many, many tours for regular folks and members of the media.
If Musk is unable to visit with Richer, I’m sure the county recorder would be happy to provide a tour for one or more of the aides or researchers or trusted friends that Musk (with his billions) could fly to Arizona.
Arizona voters:Are about to blow up how elections work
But I’m guessing that won’t happen.
Musk could have done the same thing a few months back when, out of the blue, he reposted an easily debunked, totally incorrect post suggesting that 220,731 illegal immigrants had registered to vote in Arizona.
In response, Richer politely noted that “only 39,653 new voters have registered in Maricopa County in 2024 in total. For Arizona, that number is about 60,000.”
Not all of us would be so courteous to ignorance
And he then went on to calmly and clearly explain the procedures that are followed in order for a person to become a voter in our state, and how the authenticity of the registration is verified.
Without Musk’s cooperation, however, not many of Musk’s 189 million followers on X would have seen the corrected information.
Just as not many of them will have the opportunity to see how ignorant Musk’s latest conspiracy-driven claptrap really is.
Still, the ever courteous Richer told Musk it would be “neat” for him to drop by and even thanked him in advance for considering it.
A less polite, less patient, less polished individual — me, for instance — would simply have told Elon Musk … something else.
Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.
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