TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Pima County Recorder's Office invited the public into their ballot processing center located at 6550 South Country Club Road ahead of this year’s election season to give community members a look at how everything is done.
Pima County Recorder, Gabriella Cázares-Kelly said she and her team want to create more transparency surrounding voting.
“In the current climate there have been a lot of questions about the security of ballot review, of ballot signature verification, of how we’re processing your ballot,” Cázares-Kelly said.
Here's the breakdown:
Once ballots are brought to the processing center, the return envelopes are opened in order to remove the ballot affidavit envelopes that are located within them. All of this is done with bipartisan teams.
From there, the affidavit envelopes are put into their Agilis Ballot Sorting Machine which sorts and scans them. The ballot sorting machine was purchased last April and was first used in the Presidential Preference election.
Cázares-Kelly said, “Once they’re scanned in, voters who have signed up for our ballot alert system, which is a text message or email, will get notifications that say, ‘Yes, we received your ballot.’”
Then signatures are verified. Cázares-Kelly said between 15,000 and 20,000 signatures can be verified during each shift.
“Your signature is still hand verified by a human being and it will always continue to be that," she explained. After the signature verification, the affidavit envelopes make their way to the elections department.
The Pima County Recorder's Office plans to hold more presentations and tours of the facility in the future.
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Madison Thomas joined KGUN 9 in July of 2023 as a multimedia journalist. She graduated from Arizona State University in May of 2023 with a degree in journalism and mass communication. She has lived in Arizona her entire life and grew up in Douglas. Madison is thrilled to share the stories from the community she grew up in. Share your story ideas and important issues with Madison by emailing madison.thomas@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
