PINAL COUNTY, AZ — Pinal County Elections Director Virginia Ross says a formula calculation error and lack of poll worker training led to problems during the primary election earlier this month.
Twenty Pinal County voting centers either completely ran out or were very short on in-person ballots.
Pinal County held a special session on Wednesday during which Ross shared “flawed logic assumptions in the formula that was used to calculate the number of ballots that were ordered for polling sites on Election Day,” the county said. Both parties ran out of ballots at some sites, according to Ross, though Republican ballot shortages appeared more widespread based on viewer feedback on Primary Day.
In addition, Ross said there was a “lack of hands-on training” for those working at the polls.
Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkmer said there would be an Administrative Review on the election — showing the cause of the issues, how to avoid them, and the county’s response — which is expected to be provided to the county within 45 days.
Following the election issues, the county said David Frisk was “no longer employed” as Pinal County’s elections director. Ross then resigned from her position as Pinal County Recorder to be appointed as the county’s new elections director. Dana Lewis was appointed to fill the role of Pinal County Recorder.
Also during Wednesday's session, officials drafted a new organizational chart for elections proceedings, and the board approved two new job classifications: Deputy Director, Elections and Elections Manager.
