Last election cycle, Pinal County had its fair share of issues including running out of ballots at polling locations and failing to count hundreds of ballots in the general election — but County Recorder Dana Lewis tells ABC15 they’re ready to “turn the page.”
“In 2022, we definitely had some issues in Pinal County, I think we've turned the page - we have a great staff, they're energetic and optimistic,” Lewis said. “I think voters understand that we're trying to bring trust back to the processes with how transparent we are with everything.”
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Part of that transparency includes offering the public opportunities to come to the elections department to view the entire process in real-time, from tabulation to signature verification. Some TVs will show the ballots coming in on election night.
“You'll be able to see what all the troubleshooters are returning with — the provisional ballots, the early ballots and, the election day ballots from election day,” Lewis said.
In addition, Lewis said the bi-partisan team has been working together for nearly a year, working through different scenarios to prepare.
“We’ve been doing a lot of training, a lot of mock elections and, even staging what it’s going to look like Tuesday night as the ballots are coming back from the polling locations,” Lewis told ABC15.
Unlike Maricopa County, where people can cast their ballot at any voting location, Pinal County is precinct-based — meaning you can only vote in your designated precinct.
Arizona’s Primary is Tuesday, July 30th. So far, Pinal County has received more than 40,000 early ballots.
