Pinal County bounces back from disastrous 2022 election operations with smooth Nov. 7 vote

Pinal County voters on Tuesday saw just a handful of all-mail override races for local school districts.

But inside the county's small office and tabulation center, Recorder Dana Lewis and her staff knew they needed to run a close-to-perfect election.

The county of roughly 500,000 people is sandwiched between Phoenix and Tucson. It's usually forgotten in favor of its larger neighbors on election night as voters and political pundits clamor for results from Arizona.

Last year, that changed. The county made headlines for a disastrous primary election, and then a 500-vote tallying discrepancy discovered after the November election during a recount of two statewide races with tight margins.

Meanwhile, it went through three elections directors, one of whom resigned with a scathing email that concluded: "Really, Not Respectfully, Geraldine Roll."

The saga embarrassed local leaders. It eroded trust in elections among area residents, with some conservative voters now calling for hand counting — an idea that Lewis said isn't legal under current state statute. The relatively rural county's election blunders became well-known around the state.

Lewis was appointed to her position as county recorder last year amid the turmoil, and in July, county supervisors put her in charge of nearly all election operations.

She is now tasked with picking up the mess, and giving the county a redemption arc. Tuesday's small, relatively unexciting election was her first official test.

She started her day around 4 a.m. Sixteen hours later, her staff had counted around 19,000 ballots and posted the county's first round of election results.

"This is going pretty smoothly," Lewis said as her team worked to process and tally a second round of ballots.

No election goes flawlessly. By 8 p.m., her staff were noticing a slight pattern of undervoting in one race — an override election for Casa Grande Union High School District.

Voters in that election were also asked about an override for the area's elementary school district on the front of their ballots, so the elections team speculated that some may not have turned their ballot over and noticed the race on the back. Alternately, a few election workers speculated some were only voting in the race if they had a child of high school age.

Lewis made a mental note to follow up and see if her team could do something to make voting instructions on ballots clearer next time around.

But the rest of the election administration process went swimmingly. Ballot couriers arrived back at the tabulation center with their GPS-tracked cargo in record time. Seals on ballot transfer boxes were all intact. In another room, staff worked to verify signatures and get ballots ready to go to tabulation.

Meanwhile, Lewis and Deputy Elections Director Matt Roberts were focused on simulating an atmosphere akin to what election workers might face in 2024.

Most counties across the state dropped just one round of results on election night, but Lewis and Roberts were determined to get two batches of Pinal County ballots reported before midnight.

This small election was their trial run for the bigger ones to come in 2024, they said, and an important chance to rebuild trust in elections among community members.

"Getting into that routine is important for us," Roberts said. "Very important."

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Getting back on track?

Many things will look different about Pinal County's elections next year, Lewis said.

She's working on drafting a guidebook of internal election procedures for staff to use in the coming years. That will ensure each county worker has step-by-step directions on how to pull off a smooth election.

Lewis has strengthened ballot audit worksheets, and added GPS tracking to all ballot transfer boxes. The goal, she said, is to ensure voters have confidence in election processes.

Meanwhile, county supervisors have allocated money for a variety of other changes. The primary and general elections will take place in a new building currently under construction in Florence, which will give Lewis and her team more room to work. The county also intends to purchase new tabulators — machines that tally votes.

The extra funding also gives Lewis room to hire on additional staff to help right her ship — including Roberts, who came to Coolidge after serving as a communications manager in Maricopa County's Elections Department and the Arizona Secretary of State's Office.

There are a few positions that have yet to be filled, including the county's open elections director role. Lewis has repeatedly said she wants someone with "formidable" Arizona elections experience. So far, qualified applicants have been scarce.

Lewis said she and her team are prepared to take on the presidential preference election in March without anybody in that position if needed. As the clock ticks toward the end of the year, she is focused on training the people she does have to ensure they can perform their jobs with confidence during big elections when the pressure is high.

Encouraging staff retention and offering employees opportunities to grow has also become a priority, she said. Lewis started as an elections specialist at the county just four years ago, after spending years in the U.S. Air Force. She rose quickly through the ranks in the office.

"Things are changing in Pinal County," Lewis said. "And hopefully when we're in the newspaper again, it'll be for the good things we're doing."

Challenges remain ahead

There are still hurdles for Lewis and her team.

Lewis had about 40 people working Tuesday's election. She'll need significantly more next year.

She said she is "still doing the math" on exactly how many people she will need to recruit in the next several months.

For now, she estimates the county will need about 650 people for the presidential preference election and around 1,100 for the primary and general elections. Most of those staffers will be temporary workers.

Election officials across the state also have to contend with statutory changes. Lewis and her team are preparing for a new state law that requires counties to offer enhanced early ballot tracking tools to voters.

Currently, voters statewide can track their ballots through the Arizona Secretary of State's Office. It offers an online platform — the Arizona Voter Information Portal — that allows early voters to see when their ballot is mailed to them, as well as access other voter registration data. The website, which is fed by the state's voter information database, also shows voters when their ballot has been counted by local election officials.

But the new law requires counties to notify voters when their ballot is received by election officials, the point at which ballot processing begins.

In Maricopa County, election officials have their own ballot tracking system that already provides that information to voters. But most other counties across the state, including Pinal, rely on the Secretary of State's Office for tracking capabilities.

That means Lewis must alter her county's election procedures to ensure that voters are told when their ballots arrive at her office.

"You'll know that we have it in our hands," Lewis said. "It gives us one more step."

Lewis also has to recruit more polling places. Churches, schools and other community centers often serve as civic outposts during elections, she said, but many are increasingly hesitant to do so in a time of marked political division and vitriol.

She plans to "swoon" several potential voting locations in the next few days. If she cannot find four more polling places, she and her staff may have to look at renting commercial space.

"Those are the hiccups," she said. "Those are the obstacles."

Looking ahead

As election night drew to a close, just two dozen ballots remained uncounted in Pinal County.

Those ballots required signature "curing," the process by which voters address missing or unverifiable signatures on their ballots. They are counted once voters respond to election workers confirming that their ballot was validly cast.

Lewis said it was a successfully run election, adding that her staff "knocked it out of the park." The night wasn't entirely perfect, she said, but it's not supposed to be.

"This is a human process," Lewis said. "We do everything as pristinely as we can and you learn every election, and that's the great thing."

She projected quiet confidence for the future.

"It feels OK," she said. "Yeah, it feels OK."

Sasha Hupka covers county government and election administration for The Arizona Republic. Do you have a tip to share on elections or voting? Reach her at sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @SashaHupka. Follow her on Instagram or Threads: @sashahupkasnaps.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Pinal County Elections Department operations on track for 2024 election