Final ballot counts still a week away

The road to Nov. 4 was long enough for most candidates. For some, their political fate is still not determined as thousands of ballots remain uncounted.

Pinal County Recorder Virginia Ross estimates 23,000 early and provisional ballots have not been counted. How many of those are from Maricopa voters is unknown, but it would be about 2,300 based on primary election voter turnout.

“We anticipate having all ballots counted by next Thursday,” Ross said.

Ross said her office will have all the mailed early ballots counted this weekend. Conditional provisional ballots, however, won’t be final until next Thursday.

Conditional Provisional voters have five business days to bring their identification to the Recorder's office. Tuesday is a county holiday, so the deadline is extended to Wednesday.

Vincent Manfredi, the current leader of the Maricopa City Council race with 1,763 votes, said he’s “sitting on pins and needles.”

Manfredi is 40 votes ahead of Henry Wade and 138 votes in front of third place Rachel Leffall. The top two vote-getters earn seats. 

“You’re getting all these congratulations, but they’re not really good yet. … I could be back in third tomorrow,” Manfredi said.

Wade is 98 votes clear of Leffall for the second seat.

“It’s something I’d like to get done,” Wade said. “I’m still comfortable; I’m still confident that I will be elected.”

Manfredi is more nervous: “The uncertainty of the election is very stressful … I’ve been hitting refresh on my phone so many times I might wear out the button.”

Rich Vitiello is 284 votes behind Nancy Smith for the two-year City Council position.

In another close race, Adam Schrader is 112 votes behind Gary Miller and 149 back of leader Patti Coutre for the Maricopa Unified School District governing board, which has two seats available.

Ross said updated results will be available by Saturday.