Pinal Today

Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkmer recently told the Pinal County Board of Supervisors that state law limits the county's ability to hand-count ballots in the Nov. 8 election to just 2% of randomly selected ballots.

Were Pinal County to violate that mandate, it could lose its share of  $72 million in shared state revenue, Volkmer told the board. Many in attendance during the Oct. 26 meeting expressed their questions and concerns, but Volkmer said doing a greater hand count of ballots wasn't feasible.

“The problem is, there is not a mechanism for this board to explicitly do a hand count,” he said. “There’s just not a legal mechanism to do so.

"Our L&A (logic and accuracy testing of voting machines) has been good. And we did a more robust L&A this time because of the errors we made at the primary (election)” in August.

Volkmer told the board that the county would need "north of 500" volunteers to count votes accurately, but others disagreed.

“You can’t tell me that a precinct can’t count 1,500 ballots in a day," said Shirley Carter of the Eloy area. "You could do bipartisan teams that are just counting one race.

"I think we would have a more secure election if people were presenting their ID at the time of vote. One-day elections, that’s what we need.”

Noel Reck of Casa Grande warned the supervisors that the real danger during elections would be what he called "vigilantes" who monitor drop-off ballot boxes in Arizona, many of which are conservative-leaning groups that have placed volunteers at drop-off locations, causing concern as well as complaints of intimidation.

“This board must take every action possible to maintain the safety of all involved should these tactics be employed in Pinal County," he said. "The citizens of Pinal County are counting on you to provide a free, fair and safe election.” 

Roberto Reveles asked the supervisors about the role played by Sheriff Mark Lamb in administering elections. Reveles told the board that Lamb is the leader of Protect America Now, which calls for ballot monitoring and "vigilante surveillance, which is clearly underway," and he wanted to know how Lamb would be involved on Election Day.

“The same person is the nationally recognized promoter of True the Vote, dedicated to undoing the certified results of the 2020 presidential election," Reveles said. "Can the county reassure the public that our Pinal County ballot drop boxes are not being threatened by Sheriff Lamb’s 'True the Vote?' Can the county reassure us the process of administering the election and its results thereafter does not involve Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb? 

"Why do I say this? Because Mark Lamb’s integrity has been compromised by his national activities.”

John Orton of Eloy said that Lamb's activities outside his job won't affect elections.

“I don’t think this board has the authority to put sanctions on him, despite what you may want,” he told Reveles. 

As for the 2% count, Orton said the county should do hand counts for most, if not all, ballots.

“Let’s not go with the bare minimum," he said. "You guys have the authority to make the voters of the county comfortable, and you can increase that to 50%, 75% or 99%. … Please do the right thing and let’s do a hand recount.”