FLORENCE, AZ — Early voting for November's election beings in just nine days.
After multiple ballot blunders, Pinal County officials are assuring voters they are prepared.
“The last time was such a disappointment for everyone — the poll workers and I’m sure the people that were actually voting,” said long-time poll worker Bruce Bouldin.
Bouldin remembers the primary back in August, which he describes as a day of chaos at the polls.
“I was ready to call the news media myself because it was crazy,” said Bouldin.
Under the supervision of the elections director, David Frisk, some early ballots for the primary were sent out with mistakes.
Then on primary day, there were even more issues. The main one: over 20 precincts ran out or ran low on ballots.
“I wanted to quit, but I decided to give the county another chance because I think they can do better, “ said Bouldin.
The county said they have made plenty of changes since August, including bringing in new leadership.
“We are making good headway,” said Virginia Ross.
Ross, the former County Recorder, has taken over the Elections Director Role.
Monday ABC15 was told that former director Frisk was fired back in August.
Ross said she’s not cutting corners, telling ABC15 she’s using her increased staff and things like mock elections to ensure ballots are correct.
“I had six or seven people looking at everything because we do have a two-card ballot,” said Ross.
She told ABC15 that county voters will get a two-card ballot when they vote, due to the number of races and issues.
When it comes to making sure there are enough, Ross said she will use the state formula.
“If you go by the state formula, you order 100 percent plus an extra cushion,” said Ross.
She doesn’t believe that’s the process Frisk used.
As the county works to restore trust with the community, they are also waiting on an Administrative Review of the Primary.
The report is set to be presented to the County Board of Supervisors in about two weeks.
Chairman of board Jeff McClure said he has seen only small portions.
“I think that you’ll see that it was not nefarious that it was just not following the procedures,” said Chairman McClure.
