PINAL COUNTY, AZ — Over 60,000 Pinal County voters received early voting ballots with mistakes, the county tells ABC15 they don't have a clear solution of when they will correct the issues.
“I'm afraid,” said voter Rhonda Barber. “This is just crazy.”
Pinal County voters say they were left confused and angry in the midst of the ballot confusion.
“I have no answers,” said Barber. “That's why I'm down here, to find out what's going on.”
Barber is a caretaker, and noticed something was wrong with her mom’s ballot.
“There were certain things that are missing from the ballot,” said Barber.
She and one of her friends also claim they never even received their ballot.
ABC15 was told by the county that a human error caused some ballots to be printed without municipal races.
Others, who weren't eligible to vote in municipal contests, received a ballot with those races.
“With everything going on, we have to be concerned,” said voter Diane Kouchee. “We have to be aware.”
County Attorney Kent Volkmer said they estimate 63,000 ballots have been impacted so far.
He said the mistake originated out of the County Elections Office. Seven cities or towns, only in Pinal County, are impacted.
Right now, Volkmer said the county doesn’t have a clear solution.
“We are not sitting on our hands,” said Volkmer. “My office, we worked through the weekend Saturday, Sunday. We are exploring all of our options.”
ABC15 asked Volkmer what their most likely option was.
“Right now, I believe potentially holding a separate special election for those districts seems to be the most likely scenario,” said Volkmer.
He said that could change and the decision could come down to a judge. “This is exclusively limited to these seven jurisdictions and their municipal races,” said Volkmer.
He said it’s not impacting any other contests, like state races, so he is urging people that have a ballot to vote.
But voters told ABC15, they are concerned especially with some people doubting election security.
“There are all of these legal requirements, and frankly impediments, to fix our error,” said Volkmer. “But it’s done to protect the voter.”
Volkmer says people must have faith in the system, and the county is going to be as transparent as possible.
A special County Board of Supervisors meeting is set for Tuesday to discuss this issue, and possibly take action.
The county told ABC15 that they are outsourcing ballot design for the November general election.
