The Pima County Attorney's Office found no evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 general election. The office finished an investigation intoย 151 incidents of county voters casting multiple ballots and found no evidence of fraud.ย 

The Pima County Attorneyโ€™s Office has found no evidence of voter fraud after investigating 151 incidents of Pima County voters casting multiple ballots in the 2020 general election.

The investigation found the extra ballots cast were not counted in the final tally of votes, did not affect the final election results for any candidate or ballot measure and did not involve โ€œconspiratorial acts.โ€

โ€œWhile PCAOโ€™s investigation documented instances of these voters knowingly submitting more than one ballot, there is little to no evidence that they acted with the awareness that their actions would or could result in multiple votes being counted,โ€ Pima County Attorney Laura Conover said in a news release Friday. โ€œWhat our investigation revealed was the genuine confusion about the electoral process, particularly relating to mail-in and provisional ballots, and the genuine fear, for a variety of reasons, that their initial vote would not count.โ€

None of the Pima County voters who submitted more than one ballot are being prosecuted, as the statute applicable to illegal voting holds a person must โ€œknowingly vote more than once at any election.โ€

โ€œThus, without fraudulent intent, there is no substantial likelihood of conviction of any of the voters investigated in these incidents,โ€ the news release said.

PCAOโ€™S fraud unit identified about one-third of the initial 151 incidents โ€œfor more intensive reviewโ€ and found they were comprised of 23 registered Republicans, 15 registered Democrats and 13 registered as unaffiliated/other.

Conoverโ€™s office said a representative sampling of those investigated showed:

A Tucson man who admitted to filling out two ballots after he completed the first ballot and then lost it. He and his wife looked all over the house for it and along Craycroft Road near his house before requesting a second ballot, which he completed and mailed in. He believes someone found his initial ballot and mailed it in for him.

A Tucson woman who said she placed her first ballot in a mailbox and raised the red flag to alert the postal carrier of outgoing mail. She said she later realized it was a holiday (Columbus Day) and the mail might not get picked up. She said the following morning, before going to work, she checked the mailbox and the ballot was gone. Due to the holiday, she said she suspected someone other than the mailman had taken her ballot and she requested a replacement ballot, which she completed and mailed in.

A first-time voter who first went to the precinct nearest his parentsโ€™ address, where he gets his mail delivered. He said when he arrived at the polling place, he was told that he wasnโ€™t on the roster and was given a provisional ballot. He said he spoke to someone at the precinct who told him to go to his own precinct and vote, so he did. He said he knew he wasnโ€™t supposed to cast more than one vote but didnโ€™t know where he was supposed to vote.

Former Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez first investigated the 151 incidents shortly after the general election. The investigation was then handed off to PCAOโ€™s Elections Law Unit then PCAOโ€™s Fraud Unit for further investigation.

In October, former President Donald Trump claimed voter fraud in Pima County, pointing to an influx of mail-in votes that gained the lead for Joe Biden in Pima County, which Trump asserts were fraudulent.

County officials have denied the claims of voter fraud. They point out that Republicans and Democrats were involved in counting Pima Countyโ€™s ballots multiple times and the results were certified by officials representing both parties in the state.

The election was observed by the Pima County Elections Integrity Commission, a multipartisan group that is tasked with advising election officials on the โ€œconduct and securityโ€ of county elections.

โ€œIโ€™m proud of the dedicated and laborious work done by so many different units in our office, from our detectives to the Elections and Fraud units,โ€ Conover said. โ€œTruly, they were protecting the very heart of democracy and confirming that the Southern Arizona vote was free of interference. I canโ€™t think of more noble work.โ€


Become a #ThisIsTucson member! Your contribution helps our team bring you stories that keep you connected to the community. Become a member today.

Contact reporter Nicole Ludden at nludden@tucson.com