In a special meeting that lasted five minutes, the Pima County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a plan to perform hand counts of select ballots in Novemberโs election.
Supervisor Sharon Bronson, attending the meeting by phone, made the motion to approve a hand count as requested by the countyโs Elections Integrity Commission.
Bronson, Supervisor Ray Carroll and County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry were in Washington, D.C., meeting with Congressional leaders. All attended the board meeting by phone. Supervisor Richard Elรญas was not at the meeting because of the death of his father.
With the approval of the hand count, elections officials will select one Tucson City Council race, one city ballot question and one county bond question to count manually.
The commission requested the measure to ensure that recently purchased ballot tabulation machines work properly.
Supervisor Ally Miller requested adding one race in the Oro Valley Town Council recall to the hand count. The board agreed to the request provided Oro Valley elected officials agree.
Supervisors had postponed the decision on a hand count of ballots while awaiting legal opinions from the Arizona Secretary of State and Attorney General.
Huckleberry raised concerns that the county would potentially be in violation of the law if an uncontested race, such as the bond or ballot questions, were included for the hand count.
The Secretary of State, who regulates election procedures, wrote the county this week assuring the hand count would not violate the law.
The Attorney General also told county leaders the move would not force legal action, although a full legal opinion was not offered.
The board also gave unanimous approval to the appointment of Karen Schutte to the Accuracy Certification Board.
Schutte is a Republican appointee to the board, which verifies the accuracy of computer systems used in ballot tabulation.
