The Pima County sheriff’s race between Democratic incumbent Chris Nanos and Republican challenger Heather Lappin is so close the elections department is recommending a recount. 

Nanos was leading Lappin by 495 votes, according to Pima County unofficial results as of Nov. 17 with 100% of the ballots counted. 

That lead, which had been solidly in Nanos’ favor since election night, dwindled over the following week. In a Nov. 14 memo, the Pima County Board of Supervisors announced a special meeting to pave the way for a recount in the race. The virtual meeting will be Thursday, Nov. 21, after a vote to canvass the election results. 

“The Elections Department recommends approval to petition for and conduct a recount for the office of County Sheriff,” according to the public agenda.

A recount is automatically triggered when the vote difference between candidates is less than or equal to one-half of one percent, or 0.5%, of the total votes cast, according to state law.

After the Pima County Elections Department completed the tabulation of the General Election, Nanos led Lappin by “just over 0.1% — 243,860 to 243,365 — out of 487,225 ballots cast between them,” according to a Pima County press release on Tuesday. The board of supervisors will vote, as a procedural step under state law, to recommend a petition to Pima County Superior Court to conduct a recount for the office of the sheriff.

“Once we have the court order, the recount can begin,” said Elections Director Constance Hargrove. “There were 518,466 ballots casts in the election, which equates to over 1 million cards. It will likely take about 14 calendar days to complete the recount.”

Election results in the race will be published when the recount is complete. To ensure election security, the county’s tabulation machines passed a post-election logic and accuracy test on Nov. 18. The Arizona secretary of state has delegated oversight duties of programming and logic-and-accuracy testing to the board of supervisors. The Elections Department will program and test the equipment prior to starting the recount. Election officials will run the paper ballots through tabulation machines, which are programmed to only read the recounted race.

Lappin said Monday afternoon that she respects the process and is grateful to supporters.

“I am more than proud of the campaign we ran and believe we achieved so much regardless of the results,” she told Arizona Luminaria.

Nanos has not returned repeated requests for comment.

The sheriff’s race erupted into controversy in October after early voting had begun, when Nanos placed Lappin on leave from her department job in the final weeks of the campaign, along with union leader Sgt. Aaron Cross.

On Tuesday, Nov. 12, the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted to request an outside investigation by the Arizona Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney General into Nanos’ actions.

That motion is the second time in a little over a year that the board has requested an outside party review of actions taken by Nanos. A measure passed in September 2023 called for an investigation into Nanos’ alleged failure to investigate the alleged sexual assault of a female deputy. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office found no criminal wrongdoing in Nanos’ investigation. However, criminal attorneys with the state office listed other possible violations of the department’s own policies during the investigation.

This is also the second time Nanos has suspended a campaign opponent. When running for his first election as sheriff in 2016, he suspended his opponent Sgt. Terry Staten, citing county rules that at the time said someone could be suspended if an employee’s election activities prevented them from performing their duties or if the activities adversely affected department operations. Those rules have since been changed.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is charged with responding to emergencies and reported crimes, running and maintaining the jail and, according to the department’s website, working “relentlessly toward making our community safe for the people of Pima County.”  The sheriff oversees a budget of around $170 million with about 1,500 total staff. 

An ongoing Arizona Luminaria investigation into jail deaths, dating back to 2022, scrutinized Nanos’ leadership amid 58 deaths at the jail between 2020 and 2024. 

More Pima County results

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Yana Kunichoff is a reporter, documentary producer and Report For America corps member based in Tucson. She covers community resilience in Southern Arizona. Previously, she covered education for The Arizona...