Pima County Recorder dispels President’s voting push

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - Pima County’s top election official wants voters to stick with the trusted source when it comes to ballots ahead of November 3.

This comes after President Donald Trump doubled down on his comments Thursday, encouraging voters to go to the polls even if they mailed in an early ballot as part of his ongoing concern of vote-by-mail security.

“To encourage to do something to break the law, nobody should do that, I don’t care who you are,” said Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez. “It’s a felony offense, so people should not be doing that.”

No matter who are where information is coming from this campaign season, Rodriguez said if it’s not confirmed through her office, it may be incorrect.

“We are the trusted source, said Rodriguez. “I can’t control everybody out there, I don’t know what the talking heads are doing.”

The Democrat said her office gets calls all the time with questions about social media posts or something someone heard from a friend. She said the President’s series of texts over mail-in ballot fraud just fueled a rumor-flame.

“I wish that tweet had not happened because it causes confusion,” said Rodriguez.

“What you have to do is send in your early ballot and then go and make sure that ballot is tabulated or counted. And if it’s not counted, vote,” President Trump said during Thursday in Pennsylvania.

In Pima County, you will be able to check the status of your main-in ballot here.

“We’re not here to test the system. We know what we are doing,” said Rodriguez. “We have all our securities in place”

Plans in place and ready for November, said Rodriguez, if the suggestions from the White House send more people to the polls after putting their ballots in the mail.

“As soon as voter has voted their ballot and we have accepted it, it stops,” said Rodriguez. “So, if another ballot tries to get through or they went to our early voting site, we’ll know that person’s ballot has already came back. So, if they demand to get another ballot at an early site or a polling location, they’ll be given a provisional ballot.”

A provisional ballot is a regular ballot that is sealed in an envelope rather than inserted into the precinct tabulator. The information from the form attached to the envelope is sent to the Recorder’s Office the day after election day to determine whether the ballot should be counted or not.

If the decision is made that the ballot should be counted, the envelope will be opened and the ballot will be tabulated. If the decision is made that the ballot was invalid, then the envelope will remain sealed and will not be counted.

Under Arizona law, there are four reasons that a poll worker will require a voter to cast a provisional ballot:

• Insufficient or no identification presented at the polling place.
• The voter’s name was not found in the poll roster.
• The poll roster indicates that the voter requested a ballot by mail.
• The voter has changed their name without updating their voter registration.

Rodriguez said if someone tries to vote deliberately twice, the case will be sent over to the Pima County Attorney’s Office for investigation and possible prosecution.

The Recorder’s Office will start mailing ballots on Oct. 7. This is what voters can do to make sure we have a successful election:

- Check your voter registration, confirm your address: https://www.recorder.pima.gov/VoterStats/VoterInfo

- Keep your address up to date with the Recorder either by completing a paper form or by using, www.servicearizona.com to update online.

- Request a ballot by mail: https://www.recorder.pima.gov/BallotByMail

- Request a ballot by mail by telephone: 520-724-4330

- Learn about the candidates and initiatives and be ready to vote when your ballot arrives in the mail in October.

- Check the Recorder website for updated information: https://www.recorder.pima.gov

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