Election Day over, but 20,000 Pinal ballots to be counted

Election Day may be over, but approximately 20,000 ballots still have to be verified and counted, according to Pinal County Elections Director Steve Kizer.

The ballots consist of mail-in ballots that were not received until Tueday and ballots dropped off at polling places.

The Elections Department cannot tabulate them until they are verified by the Recorder’s Office.

Also, 7,000 provisional ballots need to be processed, meaning the voter needs to be verified as a qualified elector.

Provisional ballots are given to voters in two situations.

The first is when a registered voter moves and does not update their information with the Elections Office and goes to the wrong precinct to vote. Those voters’ information is automatically updated during the tabulation process.

In the second scenario, voters are given what is called a conditional provisional ballot. These are given to voters who are registered to vote but forgot their ID card.

The voter fills out the conditional provisional ballot but it will not be tabulated unless the voter shows a valid form of ID to a county recorder within five business days of the election.

Due to Veterans Day, those voters have until Tuesday to do so.

***ADVERTISEMENT***Kizer said things went smoothly at Pinal County’s 98 polling places, aside from “typical issues you would expect on a presidential election day. He said additional precincts and a high percentage of early votes contributed to a smoothly run election and lack of long lines and delays.

He described the 53.3 percent voter turnout for the county as comparable to that of the 2008 election and pretty average for the county in general.

To register to vote in the next election, click here.