Pinal Today

Election officials in Pinal County, Arizona, have apologized for what they called “unprecedented demand for in-person ballots,” which resulted in a shortage of ballots in the Aug. 2 primary election leading many Republicans to call for corrective action.

Some locations in Pinal County ran out of ballots during the primary, including San Tan Valley, Apache Junction, Eloy, Casa Grande, and Coolidge, according to Arizona Family. Some voters were asked to wait, while others were asked to return later to cast their ballots. On Aug. 3, election officials apologized for the oversight.

"We're all human. We've all screwed up. There's nothing sinister,” Pinal County Attorney, Kent Volkmer, told Fox 10 Phoenix. “It wasn't as if we said, ‘Hey, this is only going to impact a Republican, or this is only going to impact a Democrat.’ This was widespread, it was equal opportunity, it was just simply a mistake."

On election day, the county warned voters of the shortage via Twitter.

"Due to unprecedented demand for in-person ballots, Pinal County has experienced a ballot shortage in certain, limited precincts,” the county said in a tweet from its official Twitter account. “Pinal County is continuing to print additional ballots and distributing them to each affected precinct polling place."

Despite the apology, Republican officials in Arizona and nationwide expressed anger at the situation.

“This is a comprehensive failure that disenfranchises Arizonans and exemplifies why Republican-led efforts for transparency at the ballot box are so important,” Republican Party of Arizona Chairperson, Kelli Ward, and Republican National Committee Chair, Ronna McDaniel, said in a press release published on the KTAR News website. “Pinal County Elections Director David Frisk should resign immediately.”

The Republican Party of Arizona followed suit with a tweet Aug. 3 saying, "Join us in asking for the resignation of Pinal County Elections Director David Frisk. What has happened over the last few weeks is absolutely unacceptable. The people of Pinal deserve better."

Election officials said limited resources and an inability to print ballots contributed to the situation.

“When we got a call for help, we initiated our EOC command,” Volkmer said. “EOC responds when voting locations run out or are running out of ballots. That happened a little over 20 times.”

The ballot shortage follows an incident of “human error” in July when 60,000 misprinted ballots were mailed to residents, Arizona Family reported.

“It’s happened once, it’s happened twice, it cannot happen a third time,” Volkmer said. “I know the chair and I are united on this. It will not happen a third time.”