Posted on 11/13/2018 11:55:26 AM PST by Mr Rogers
Arizona's Ballot Tabulation Process
Many people across Arizona, in the media, and across the United States are wondering why it takes so long to count ballots. So we wanted to take the time to explain the process.
Early Ballots
In Arizona, there are 15 elected County Recorders and their elections divisions tabulate the ballots and upload them to the Secretary of State’s website. The Secretary of State’s only role in this process is to display the results once they are uploaded by each county.
One of the major reasons it takes time to count ballots is that there are hundreds of thousands of early ballots dropped off at the polls on election day – approximately 320,000 statewide this time. The counties are currently working to verify the signatures on each and every one of those early ballots before they can be tabulated. Once the county election officials verify the signature on each of those ballots (which is no small task!), they then make sure that a voter didn’t cast an early ballot AND vote in person at a polling location. All of these processes take a little bit of time and is done to ensure that voters can trust the outcome of their elections. Election Security
Another reason it takes time to tabulate the ballots is to ensure the security of our elections. It comes as no surprise that the security of our elections is at the top of everybody’s mind right now. Arizona has made it a top priority to make sure that our critical election infrastructure is secure from any nefarious actors. Some of these new security measures do however slow down the ballot tabulation process. For example, in Maricopa County, the data cartridge from each voting machine at the polling locations is physically removed from when the polls close and securely transported to a central location. Once at the secure location, each and every cartridge is then tabulated. Previously, the data was transmitted over secure phone lines instead of physically moved. This, while more secure, does slow down the process.
Arizona takes elections seriously – from the poll workers to the county elections officials, and the Secretary of State’s office and everybody is working diligently to tabulate all of the election results in a manner that Arizonans can be proud of and, most importantly, trust the results.
For any statewide, county or legislative election, the county recorder or officer in charge of elections shall provide for a live video recording of the custody of all ballots while the ballots are present in a tabulation room in the counting center.
But it does take time. Consider McSally's 2014 run for the House:
“Results unveiled Wednesday by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper — more than six weeks after the Nov. 4 election — showed McSally ahead by 167 votes. McSally, a retired Air Force officer and the first female to fly in combat, previously led the vote count by 161 votes, but a mandatory recount followed because the margin was not wide enough...The results come after a federal judge rejected a request from the Barber campaign to count 133 additional votes that the Democrat believed to have been improperly rejected.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/martha-mcsally-arizona-second-113640
Notice she gained votes, slightly. 161 vote lead finished at 167 vote lead. Ended on 17 December 2014!
If I could waive a magic wand, we'd go to in person election day voting plus absentee. But with roughly 80% of Arizona using mail ballots of some sort, it ain't gonna happen!
In a better world, we’d revert to voting in person ON ELECTION DAY, and issuing absentee ballots only to the infirm, hospital inpatients, overseas Americans and the military.
This mish-mash of early, absentee, mail-in ballots just muddies up the situation.
All that said.... the fact Arizona chose the faux-moderate Sinema over the veteran McSally is baffling. But it goes to show, American voters will do the weirdest, most logic-defying acts, come election day.
I think the fraud is at the colleges since most students are not residents of AZ.
VOTE on ELECTION DAY!
Make it a Paid Federal Holiday AND eliminate all the Mail In, Provisional, and Absentee Ballots.
IF VOTING is the single the greatest honor in the world, START treating it that way!!!!
“””One of the major reasons it takes time to count ballots is that there are hundreds of thousands of early ballots dropped off at the polls on election day – approximately 320,000 statewide this time. The counties are currently working to verify the signatures on each and every one of those early ballots before they can be tabulated. Once the county election officials verify the signature on each of those ballots (which is no small task!), they then make sure that a voter didn’t cast an early ballot AND vote in person at a polling location. All of these processes take a little bit of time and is done to ensure that voters can trust the outcome of their elections.”””
“””they then make sure that a voter didn’t cast an early ballot AND vote in person at a polling location”””
I believe in other states that if an Absentee Ballot is mailed to a voter, then that voter’s name is so noted on the registration rolls and is prevented from Early Voting or Same Day Voting.
No more early voting.
Show ID to vote.
Trackable with receipt, paper ballots . (No more voting machines.)
Register to vote with birth certificate/proof of citizenship.
Show ID to vote.
Signatures must match.
Attempted voter fraud should=Treason=Automatic 10 years in prison. No parole.
https://www.recorder.pima.gov/BallotByMailRequest
If I read our county web site correctly, there no such thing as an ‘absentee ballot’ - they would simply be an early ‘mail in ballot’.
There is still a signature check to make sure that you did not vote twice, once by mail and once at the polling booth. No late voting allowed though, all ballots have to be in the polling place or election office at the time the polls close.
Paid? By whom? The business owners?
Most small businesses only employ a handful of employees, and the owners eke out a meager living on very thin profit margins.
Most of us can't afford to pay benefits of any kind to our staff, much less spring for paid holidays.
I’m still interested in why Maricopa County took so long to gather its votes, and why there was such a large discrepancy between the votes for the Republican governor and the Dim senator.
There is a large discrepancy between the votes for Gov & Senate in every county.
In conservative Mojave County, they voted for Ducey by a 4.2:1 margin, and for McSally by a 2.6:1 margin.
Yavapai voted for Ducey by a 2.3:1 ratio, but for McSally by a 1.6:1 ratio.
In Pima, they voted for for Ducey by a 0.97:1 ratio and for McSally at a 0.74:1 ratio.
Folks just don’t like McSally very much. All across the state. She significantly under-performed EVERYWHERE.
Maricopa didn’t take a long to to collect votes, but to count them - because they have the most signatures to check.
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