Democrat Sebastian Matta, an Arizona State University student who is 19, will be Maricopa County's next Clerk of the Superior Court after beating former Republican state Sen. Jeff Dial.
Dial called Matta on Wednesday to concede, both candidates told ABC15. In a written statement reported by ABC15, Dial thanked his volunteers and election workers and said, "I hope the Clerk's Office finds great success in the future."
The count
Maricopa County's precinct-level results file, posted Friday evening, showed Matta with 783,237 votes (53.5%) and Dial with 679,200 (46.4%), a lead of 104,037 votes, with 1,140 write-in votes also cast. All results remain unofficial until the county canvass.
What the office does
The clerk is the record keeper for Superior Court, the county's main trial court. Under Arizona law (A.R.S. 12-282 and 12-283), the clerk attends court sessions, keeps custody of records filed with the court, maintains the court docket and provides access to court records under court rules.
The clerk also hires and supervises the office's staff and submits an annual budget request to the county Board of Supervisors, coordinated with the court's presiding judge.
Matta will oversee about 670 employees, according to Arizona's Family, which said about 16,000 documents pass through the office each day. ABC15 cited a figure of about 15,000 documents a day, along with close to $500,000 in daily transactions.
For residents of the Maricopa County portion of Queen Creek, the clerk's office is where Superior Court case filings and records are kept.
His plans
Matta told Arizona's Family he wants to broaden language access and shift more court services online, including the ability to start probate matters. He told ABC15 he expects to hold off on those changes for a couple of months, possibly up to a year, while he gets to know the staff.
