Supervisors nixed a colleague’s request Tuesday for an independent investigation into why an online portal for Pima County voters to request an early ballot was temporarily shut down just before Election Day.
Supervisor Steve Christy, the sole Republican on the board, requested the outside probe of the Pima County Recorder’s Office, saying the shutdown could have violated state law.
Christy said it was needed, “in order to clarify, and at least clear the air … because if there isn’t a clear-cut, unbiased investigation, this cloud will hang over the recorder’s office and our voting system indefinitely.”
The incident started when a last-minute effort to ensure that approximately 500 voters in Continental School District were going to get the right ballot. That led to a delay in mailing out about half the early ballots.
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That delay caused some voters to “panic” regarding their own voter registration and ability to get an early ballot by mail, Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly told the board. Some 28,000 voters flooded the online portal for early mail ballots up until about Oct. 19, the Star reported.
But most of the requests, about 60%, were “duplicates,” Cázares-Kelly said Tuesday. That means the were made by people who were already on the active early voting and had a ballot on the way.
Marion Chubon, the chief deputy recorder, made the call to shut down the portal after it was clear request could not be filled fast enough to comply with a state-required deadline.
After a discussion that lasted about 90 minutes, the board voted 4-to-1 not to pursue an investigation.
