PHOENIX — Several Pinal County election precincts reportedly ran out of in-person ballots during Tuesday's primary election.
According to county officials, more than 20 precincts in Pinal County either ran low or ran out of ballots and had to request more.
Pinal County officials addressed the issues Wednesday afternoon with the media after taking public comment during a board meeting:
Precincts 7, 8, 15, and 92 were all confirmed to have run out of ballots during the afternoon. According to one ABC15 viewer, precinct 45 in Apache Junction has also run out of ballots, but Pinal County has not confirmed that location.
On Wednesday officials spoke publicly about the issue and cited human error for the issues. One official said they had a higher amount of people requesting day of, in-person ballots, and Independents requesting Republican ballots because so many Democrats were running unopposed in major races.
RELATED: Full Arizona election coverage
Due to unprecedented demand for in-person ballots, Pinal County has experienced a ballot shortage in certain, limited precincts. Pinal County is continuing to print additional ballots and distributing them to each affected precinct polling place.
— Pinal County - Government 🌵 (@PinalCounty) August 2, 2022
A full list of Pinal County precincts can be found online here.
Pinal County said voters who were physically in line at a polling center by 7 p.m. were able to cast a ballot even though some of them had to wait in line for extended periods of time.
Later in the evening Tuesday, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and Republican Party of Arizona (RPAZ) Chairwoman Kelli Ward released the following statement regarding ballot issues in Pinal County:
During Arizona’s primary elections, the RNC and Republican Party of Arizona's poll observer program documented and reported multiple failures by Pinal County’s Elections Administrator, including 63,000 mail-in ballots delivered to the wrong voters and multiple Republican-heavy precinct locations running out of ballots. This is a comprehensive failure that disenfranchises Arizonans and exemplifies why Republican-led efforts for transparency at the ballot box are so important. Pinal County Elections Director David Frisk should resign immediately.
