Pinal supervisors meet today to discuss ballot error solution

Four days after the discovery that local elections were left off ballots in Maricopa and six other cities, Pinal County has yet to announce a plan to address the problem.

It tried.

But a proposed plan to require voting in those local elections be done by mail – with no in-person voting – was pulled off the table on Monday.

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors will meet at 2:40 p.m. today to discuss a plan to allow voters in the cities to cast a ballot in their local elections.

About 63,000 faulty ballots were sent last week to Pinal County voters due to a human error in the county elections office, the county said. Officials have not elaborated on the how the error was made and who made it. David Frisk is the director of the county Elections Department, which prepares the ballots.

James Daniels, the county’s director of communications and marketing, said officials are hopeful that direction on how to address the problem will come from today’s meeting, “but at this point no decisions on the way forward have been made.”

“It means (the Board of Supervisors) are reconsidering their previous decision to go ballot by mail and looking at all possible options for the City of Maricopa contests, as well as the contests for the six other municipalities impacted,” he said.

The initial solution that supervisors backed off from was to send supplementary ballots to the affected voters and conduct the local elections exclusively via ballot by mail. Voters would not have been able to vote in person in the municipal elections but could have brought their mail-in ballot to their polling place on election day and dropped it in the ballot box, Daniels explained in an email Monday.

“This impacts every voter in the City of Maricopa,” he said. “While federal, state, legislative and county contests are not impacted, City of Maricopa contests will now be an all-mail ballot. As such, every registered voter eligible to vote in City of Maricopa contests will now receive a supplemental ballot, specific to City of Maricopa contests which must be completed and returned. Voters will not be able to vote in local contests at voter centers on Election Day, they will need to return the supplemental ballot.”

After consultation with County Attorney Kent Volkmer, however, the supplemental ballot option was re-evaluated and withdrawn. The supervisors are expected to address that move in its meeting.

Pinal County has published an FAQ to address the pressing issues until a solution is determined; we have included it below.

What has happened?

In seven municipalities across Pinal County, early mail ballots were sent out with errors, specifically related to city and town election contests. Voters in some city/town precincts did not have municipal contests on their ballots. Meanwhile, in some precincts outside city/town limits (in unincorporated Pinal County), some voters received municipal contests on their ballots in which they are not eligible to vote. Federal, State, Legislative and County contests were not impacted.

Which are the seven municipalities that are impacted?

The impacted municipalities are Casa Grande, Eloy, the City of Maricopa, Mammoth and Superior, PLUS the Pinal County portions of Apache Junction and Queen Creek. Maricopa County residents in Apache Junction and Queen Creek are not impacted by this issue.

How do I confirm if I am impacted?

Please use this tool: https://arcg.is/1TamXa

Type in your address and it will tell you if, and how, you may be impacted.

What has caused this error?

This error has been caused by human error in preparation of the ballots in the County Elections Department.

My City or Town is not listed. Am I impacted?

If your City or Town is not mentioned in the list, you are not impacted and should continue to vote as normal.

I live in Unincorporated Pinal County, am I impacted?

If you live in Unincorporated Pinal County and do not have any city or town contests on your ballot, you are not impacted and should continue to vote as normal.

If you live in Unincorporated Pinal County and see a city or town contest on your ballot, you can complete Federal, State, Legislative and County contests on your ballot and return it as normal. The city/town contests on your ballot will be invalid and not be counted if voted.

My City or Town is impacted. What happens now?

As of Monday, July 11, 2022, previously stated ballot by mail and options related to city and town elections in the seven municipalities ARE BEING RE-EVALUATED by the County Attorney’s Office.

We will update you with further information when it becomes available. We appreciate your patience.

If you received an early ballot, you can complete and return the Federal, State, Legislative, and County contests on your ballot.

I’ve heard a lot of talk about election irregularities in recent years. Did something untoward happen here?

Absolutely not, this has been caused by human error in preparation of the ballots in the County Elections Department. As a County, we strive for excellence, trust and transparency, particularly when it comes to elections, and we recognize the significance of these errors. We wish to reassure voters and candidates that election integrity is our top priority, and as such, we are taking immediate corrective action for voters in the affected areas.

Have Democrat or Republican candidates been most impacted?

The impacted races are city and town contests, which are non-partisan. This means candidates are not running with an affiliated party.

I still have questions, who can I call?

You can contact Pinal County’s Citizen Contact Center on 520-509-3555, or 311 from within Pinal County. Contact Center staff are available to answer questions from Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. If you prefer to email, you can also email [email protected].