Two leading political recall organizations, Respect Arizona and Citizens for a Better America, set up camp outside of government buildings on Thursday to collect signatures to push for the recall of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
"We're really pushing for Arpaio to resign," said Lilia Alvarez, campaign manager for Respect Arizona.
As of Monday the group needed to collect 90,000 signatures in order to have more than the legal threshold of 335,317 to oust the controversial sheriff.
Recall efforts began just weeks after the sheriff was sworn in for his sixth term in January after beating Democratic running mate Paul Penzone by only six percentage points causing suspicion to erupt.
The groups have struggled to raise money and have relied on the hard work of devoted volunteers who say Arpaio "has failed to adequately investigate more than 400 sex crimes cases, has cost the county $25 million in legal settlements over treatment in the county jails, and a federal judge ruled that his office had systematically targeted Latinos in his...immigration patrols."
One of the attorneys, Tim Casey, representing the Maricopa Country Sheriff's Office responded to the ruling by saying Arpaio and his officers have never engaged in racial profiling, and that the MCSO deputies were only carrying out legal practices learned in training they received by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
"We're deeply disappointed with the outcome of the decision," Casey told VOXXI. "The MCSO's position is that it has never used race and will never use race to make a law enforcement decision.
"We will be appealing, but in the meantime, we will be working with the court and with the counsel to make sure that we implement the court's order by its terms and its intent," he said.
The recall organizations have until Thursday 5 p.m. to hand in their signatures to Maricopa County Elections.
