TUCSON, Ariz - There’s a lot of attention on the Presidential election a little over four months away but Arizona has another election to finish first---the primary election that will officially choose the candidates for each of the parties.
With some voters questioning the security of vote by mail, KGUN9 On Your Side asked how Pima County secures its elections.
On August 4th the Pima County Elections building will be a very busy place as ballots are counted in a primary election but what safeguards exist to make sure that vote will be honest?
Pima County Elections Supervisor Brad Nelson says the political parties have representatives watching how the ballots are processed, verified and counted---at the polling places and where the vote by mail ballots come in.
He says ballots are not sent out at random. They go to specific people who requested them.
“They'll get their ballot voted, and then send it back in and sign the outside of the affidavit envelope that contains their ballot. The County Recorder will then compare that signature that's on the exterior of the blue with the, with a signature that they have on file that verification process again is observed by a mix of political parties.”
Just as modern money has some built in features to help someone recognize a counterfeit, modern ballots have anti counterfeiting features too.
Brad Nelson says, “But if anybody has seen a ballot, whether it's here within the state of Arizona or elsewhere. Most of those ballots have no distinguishing marks on them that are extremely unique and provide a protection so that if a counterfeit ballot did come in and did not contain some of those watermarks and other devices such that, it's not going to be able to be counted by the tabulation equipment.”
Nelson expects most ballots to be mail ballots this election but that may slow down results because they can take more time to process.
