Poll: Voters undeterred by ballot snafu

Jul 25, 2022

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Mayor Nancy Smith, who at the time of this photo was a councilmember, holds a mail-in ballot during a discussion about the election problems during at City Council meeting in July. She traveled to Florence the day after the primary to tell the Pinal County Supervisors that the election was an embarrassment. [Bryan Mordt]

Maricopans are hardy souls, so the county’s mistake of omitting City Council candidates from early ballots isn’t going to deter them from exercising their voting privilege.

At least that’s what our informal reader poll indicated.

Supplemental ballots have arrived in local mailboxes for the Aug. 2 City Council election, and that made us wonder about the local impact of the ballot omissions.

We asked: “Will the Pinal County ballot mistake, causing Maricopa voters to have to fill out two separate ballots, affect the way you vote?”

The overwhelming winner was the response, “No, I will vote as I would in any election,” which garnered 99 votes (73.7%) of the total 133 votes cast.

In second place was, “Yes, this mess has me confused,” with 24 votes (18%).

The response, “I am registered but was never going to vote anyway,” had 11 votes (8.3%).

The City Council race features four candidates – Realtor Adam Leach, Interim Mayor Vincent Manfredi and Councilmembers Rich Vitiello and Henry Wade – vying for three open seats.

All eligible voters are encouraged to get out and exercise their Constitutional franchise to have your voice heard at the ballot box.

Editor’s note: Vincent Manfredi is co-owner of InMaricopa.