Michael Kiefer

The Republic | azcentral.com

On Tuesday of this week, the roster of candidates running in the Aug. 30 primary election for Maricopa County offices had a lot of empty spaces.

By Wednesday's deadline for filing signatures to be placed on the ballot, those slots had filled out — but just barely.

Only three races, the Republican candidacies for sheriff, recorder and school superintendent, have even token primary opposition. The rest of the candidates will run unopposed. And candidates challenging incumbents by and large have little or no government experience, their Facebook pages and websites sparse on background.

The county primaries, in other words, are a mere formality. The act of gathering signatures was enough to ensure a spot on the ballot for the November general election. Many candidates, especially incumbents, will run unopposed in November, too.

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The field of candidates:

Maricopa County sheriff

Despite his legal problems, Republican Joe Arpaio is running for his seventh term as sheriff. But he faces challenges in his own party from former Buckeye police Chief Dan Saban, who has run unsuccessfully against him twice before; a retired long-time county sheriff's deputy named K.W. Baker; and Marsha Ann Hill, whose law-enforcement experience consists of starting Arpaio's former animal posse. That posse was disbanded after Hill reportedly battled with the Sheriff's Office over funds she had raised.

Former Phoenix police Sgt. Paul Penzone is running unopposed for the Democrat spot on the November ballot. It will be his second run against Arpaio, if Arpaio wins the primary.

A single Libertarian candidate, Chad Thomas Lisk, also has put his name in and will appear on the general election ballot. His campaign material shows him wearing a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office uniform, but he no longer works for that office and does not mention any further law-enforcement experience.

School superintendent

Incumbent Dan Covey, a Republican, faces Valley schoolteachers Steve Watson and Jana Jackson in the primary. The sole Democrat up for the post is a Glendale woman, Michelle Robertson, whose website gives no insights into who she is, other than that she has worked in some capacity at a Glendale middle school.

Recorder

Embattled incumbent Helen Purcell is running to remain in her longtime post. She faces primary opposition in Aaron Flannery, whose only listed credentials on his campaign Facebook page are that he is conservative and has a master's degree in public administration. Defense attorney and former Assistant Arizona Attorney General Adrian Fontes has put his name in to run as a Democrat, and will face Purcell or Flannery in November.

County attorney

County Attorney Bill Montgomery is the only Republican on the primary ballot, though Diego Rodriguez, a general practice attorney with some prosecutorial experience at the Pima County Attorney's Office, is running as a Democrat.

Treasurer

Treasurer Hos Hoskins has decided not to run for re-election. His chief deputy, Royce Flora, a Republican, is running in his stead. Joe Downs, a financial adviser and MBA with cute videos of his dog on his campaign Facebook page, is running as the lone Democrat.

Assessor

Republican incumbent Paul Petersen is the only candidate in the running.

Board of Supervisors

As of Wednesday's filing deadline, none of the incumbents or would-be supervisors will have primary opposition, and only one will have a challenger in the November general election. A Mesa tech-firm systems expert named Matthew Cerra, a Democrat, will run against incumbent Republican Denny Barney in the East Valley's District 1.

Republicans Steve Chucri (District 2) and Clint Hickman (District 4) and Democrat Steve Gallardo (District 5) will run unopposed in August and November.

On Wednesday, Phoenix Councilman Bill Gates announced that he resigning from his post to run as a Republican for supervisor in District 3, to fill the slot that will be left vacant by longtime Supervisor Andy Kunasek, who has chosen not to run again.