Jeff Ellington
Role at the time: Runbeck Election Services president and CEO
Denied
Response to this claim
The early ballot release resulted from an accidental mailing error, not intentional misconduct.
“It was pure accident, just a human error ... We regret it. But it was by no means intentional.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Board reacts after 3,000+ Maricopa County mail-in ballots mailed early (AZFamily)Full report, first published October 4 at 6:40 p.m. MST, updated October 5; Ellington's denial, Richer's response and process review
The report was first published October 4 and updated October 5, although the URL contains October 6. It quotes Ellington's denial and Richer's explanation of the error.
Why we used this label
The reference point is the claim that the early ballot mailing was deliberate misconduct. Ellington calls the release a "human error" and says it was "by no means intentional", which expressly rejects the claim. The closest competing label, Challenged the characterization, loses because he says the alleged intent did not exist rather than only disputing a description.