For those who are still scratching their heads wondering how Pima County’s 2012 General Election results are what they are, wonder no more. The Pima County Recorder’s Office released a comprehensive report on vote-by-mail ballots issued to voters.
The report contained reasons why people needed replacement ballots:
• Parrot ate the ballot
• Cat vomited on my first ballot
• Used the wrong pen purple, highlighter did not read instructions
• Ballot got wet; put it in the microwave to dry it; ballot caught on fire
• I ordered a ballot to this hotel but I am moving hotels so send to the new one
• My husband voted my ballot and he likes to go to the polls
• Changed my mind for President after the last debate
• I accidentally put it through the shredder
• Cannot find my ballot on my desk
• Voted for the wrong candidate
• I was supposed to single shot a candidate for a race
• Used a Sharpie pen and it bled through the ballot on the other side
• Dropped cigarette on ballot and burned it
• Changed my mind on some of the propositions
The Pima County Recorder’s Office mailed a total of 314,258 ballots to voters in Pima County who requested a ballot to be mailed to them. Of this figure, a total of 255,841 ballots were voted by Pima County voters. These are voters who like to utilize the vote by mail process.
The remaining 58,417 voters who were mailed a vote-by-mail ballot chose not to vote their vote-by-mail ballot. However, 15,464 voters who were mailed a vote-by-mail ballot chose instead to go to their assigned polling location on Election Day and were issued a provisional ballot. The decision by these voters made it necessary to issue 15,464 provisional ballots of the 27,646 provisional ballots that were issued in this election.
The remaining 42,953 voters who received vote-by-mail ballots chose not to participate in the election and we will categorize these as non-voting participants.
Under Arizona law, a voter who receives a vote-by-mail ballot can request up to two replacement ballots if the first ballot is lost, misplaced or damaged. The Pima County Recorder’s Office issued 5,383 voters a 2nd ballot. Though requests for a third replacement ballot are rare, Pima County Recorder’s Office received requests from 193 voters for a third ballot during this election.
The computer system will not allow more than one voted ballot to be accepted, so while The Recorder’s Office is required to ask voters the reason they need to receive replacement ballots. During this election cycle some unusual reasons were provided by the voters. These are some, but not all, of the reasons that were given to staff by the 5,383 voters requesting replacement ballots for the 2012 General Election cycle.
The Recorder’s Office says there are several issues concerning the current process of the vote-by-mail program. Almost 20 % of the voters who requested a vote-by-mail ballot did not vote.
The second major issue, according to the Recorder’s Office, concerns voters who receive a vote-by-mail ballot and then chose to go to their assigned polling location on Election Day. For the 2012 General Election, there were 15,607 who were in this category and were issued provisional ballots.
During the count of the ballots, Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez, admitted that many were forced to cast provisional ballots because many voters were left off the signature registration books or they were printed out of order.
Rodriguez says there are several solutions to remedy these conditions that have been proposed among the fifteen counties in Arizona and will be discussed at the scheduled state wide Recorders meeting in Phoenix on Thursday, December 6, 2012. Preliminary discussions with statewide election officials indicate several of the recommendations to resolve these issues will require the Arizona State legislature to implement legislation during the next session.