HELEN PURCELL
MARICOPA COUNTY RECORDER
Helen Purcell (Republican) was elected to the office of Maricopa County Recorder in November 1988; is now serving her 5th term and is only the second woman to hold this position since 1871. Born in Topeka, Kansas, she’s been a Phoenix resident since 1964. Mrs. Purcell began her business career with T. J. Bettes Mortgage Company in Texas, subsequently becoming a real estate trust officer with Stewart Title & Trust of Phoenix. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Counties (NACo) serving since December 1997, a member of the Property Records Industry Association (PRIA), a member of the Board of Directors of the Kids Voting-Arizona, member of the National Association of County Recorders and Clerks (NACRC), and the International Association of Clerks, Recorders, Elections Officials and Treasurers. In May 1998, Mrs. Purcell received the National Kids Voting Excellence Award. She currently serves as Chairman of NACo’s Member Programs and Services Committee and is a member of the Telecommunications and Technology Committee. In 2003 she was appointed by the President of NACo to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Board of Advisors. In June, 2004 Mrs. Purcell was appointed by the Chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to the newly formed Technical Guidelines Development Committee – its purpose is to draft standards for all voting systems in the U.S. She has two grown sons, Mark and Todd, and four grandsons.
Mrs. Purcell’s statutory duties and responsibilities include recording and maintaining, for permanent public record, 6,000 to 10,000 documents per day (digital recording is more than 50% of the daily recording) and maintaining voter registration rolls for over 1,500,000 registered voters. She is responsible for administering the Elections Department which conducts all national, state and county wide elections, and provides support for cities, towns, school districts, special districts, and other jurisdictions.
On April 3, 2000, the Maricopa County Elections Department’s Vote-By-Mail technology became part of the 2000 Computerworld Smithsonian Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D. C., nominated by Michael Dell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dell Computer Corporation. Mrs. Purcell and her department encourage voters of America’s 4th largest county to request mail-in ballots by phone, mail, internet, or walk-in, increasing overall voter participation as mail-in ballots grow to account for over 50% of the total ballots cast. In 2005 and 2006 awards were presented to the department by NACo for Language Assistance and Board worker Voter Assistance respectively. NACo and the Elections Center presented awards in 2007 in recognition of the new Election Reporting Database which also received the “Best Practice” award from the National Association of Recorders, Election Officials and Clerks (NACRC).
The office has received many achievement awards for Digital Recording, use of the internet in the redistricting process and a special achievement GIS Award from Environmental Systems Research Institute.
Her office has processed over one-million documents each year since 1999, reaching 1,547,690 in 2004.