Arizona has very stringent petition requirements for independent candidates. They need 3% of the number of registered voters who are not members of qualified parties. A few days ago, an independent candidate for Sheriff of Maricopa County submitted 29,764 signatures to meet a requirement of 19,410 signatures. The candidate is Mike Stauffer. He is a registered independent with 29 years of law enforcement experience, and he hopes to defeat the likely Republican nominee, incumbent Joe Arpaio, in November. Stauffer’s web page is www.votestauffer.com.

Maricopa County contains almost 60% of Arizona’s population, and includes Phoenix and many other fairly large cities.