Parts of the Arizona secretary of state’s website are down for unspecified security-related maintenance, angering some candidate campaigns that received belated notice. The portion of the site dealing with online contributions to the public campaign-finance system was shut down Tuesday evening, said Matt Roberts, a spokesman for Secretary of State Michele Reagan. But it was only Wednesday morning that the office sent a notice to the Clean Elections candidates using the site’s online service for gathering the $5 contributions necessary to qualify for public financing. “Why wouldn’t you notify the candidates first?” asked Chad Campbell, a consultant for the campaign of Corporation Commission candidates Tom Chabin and Bill Mundell.
The two Democrats launched a digital campaign late Tuesday afternoon, seeking the $5 donations. But apparently, any would-be donors could not contribute due to the site’s shutdown, something Campbell said the campaign only learned when a donor contacted them.
A formal notice from the Secretary of State’s Office to the 53 affected candidates went out just before 10 a.m. Wednesday, soon after Campbell started complaining about it on Twitter.
Constantin Querard, who runs campaigns for a number of Republican candidates who use the public campaign-finance system, said he had not heard any complaints from his clients.
Full Article: Security concerns shut down parts of secretary of state’s elections site.