PHOENIX — This week, a new Maricopa County Board of Supervisors takes control - but a familiar face will no longer be there.
Longtime Supervisor Bill Gates decided not to run for re-election in 2024, partly because of threats he received and the turmoil associated with the 2020 and 2022 elections - but although he is leaving office, he is not deserting his love for the process.
Some would call Bill Gates a "defender of democracy," but for Gates, it's all in a day's work.
"I am someone here just doing my job!" he said, just days before the 2024 election.
"This is one of the interesting things that has come out of this; I think because elections are in the news...I have been approached by many young people who have told me they want to go into election administration."
And now, Gates is helping to grow the next crop of election workers at Arizona State University's Mechanics of Democracy Lab in Downtown Phoenix.
"We are going to be doing research in different areas because there is so much and so many things that have surfaced in the past few years. Where to locate vote centers, looking more into this concept of doing hand counts. What are the challenges and opportunities, to a limited extent?"
Gates says it's not about reaching the people who already have faith in the system -- it's about reaching the ones who don't.
"The problem is that we have gotten in our silos and I say it's great to speak to groups who believe in elections and that they are safe and secure. It makes me feel good about our work here. But how much am I moving the needle? If we can get people who have concerns about elections who see things different, having a discussion further educating those people who have those concerns, young and old and all between, if we can do that, and help address some of that misinformation out there. I think that will be a great accomplishment of the lab."
For more information about ASU's Mechanics of Democracy Lab, click here.
