Questions about possible ballot tampering led to an observer's being handcuffed and escorted from the Pima County Elections Department on Saturday during the hand-count of ballots from Tuesday's primary election.
John Brakey, an observer representing the Democratic and Libertarian parties, was asked to leave the elections office at 3434 E. 22nd St., when he refused to stop questioning the people who were counting the ballots, said County Elections Director Brad Nelson.
Brakey is the co-founder of AUDIT-AZ, which stands for Americans United for Dem-ocracy, Integrity and Transparency in Elections.
Brakey said he became concerned about the veracity of the ballots when he found seven ballot bags from different precincts had been improperly sealed or had discrepancies between the seal and the paperwork in the ballot bag.
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Nelson estimates incongruities were found with only two or three of 18 bags, likely caused by poll-worker errors on election night. At least one election-night receipt turned in by workers backed up Nelson's suggestion.
When he realized there were problems with some of the sealed bags, Brakey said he went to each panel of counters advising the Democratic and Libertarian representatives to be on the lookout for discrepancies. Brakey said he was asked to leave by Nelson as he was talking to the party representatives who were hand-counting ballots.
"My job is to, first off, make sure we have the number of people here to go ahead and do that count," Brakey said. "And secondly, to document and observe and ask questions."
Asking questions is appropriate, said Nelson, but inquiries should be directed to him and not to the ballot-counters.
"He refused to direct questions to me," Nelson said. That's when Brakey was asked to leave the building.
Brakey said Nelson threatened him with arrest if he did not leave.
"I said, 'I'm not leaving here unless I'm arrested. I have a job to do,' " Brakey said.
That's when an on-site Pima County sheriff's deputy handcuffed Brakey and escorted him from the building. He was cited for criminal trespass and released.
Former Arizona Rep. Ted Downing, a Tucson Democrat, was instrumental in drafting legislation in 2006 that requires automatic hand-counted audits following Arizona elections.
Downing was not at the elections office Saturday, but spoke with Brakey after he was forced off county premises.
"Somebody screwed up at seven different precincts or somebody tampered with the bags," Downing said. "Our elections in the county must be transparent, and that means the parties have the right to ask questions."
Nelson "has some answering to do as to what happened to those bags," Downing said.
