Pima County likely wonβt finish counting tens of thousands of yet-to-be-tallied ballots from Tuesdayβs election until Saturday, elections officials say.
The largest issue continues to be mail-in ballots that were returned to early voting locations and polling places and have not yet been processed, said Pima County Elections Department Director Brad Nelson.
There are also uncounted provisional ballots, which can include those given to people who lost their mail-in ballot, had inconsistent address information or similar issues.
In Cochise County, long lines and a shortage of ballots plagued Election Day.
Voting sites in Douglas and Huachuca City ran out of ballots; Cochise County officials ordered more and pledged to stay open until every person in line as of 7 p.m. could vote.
βObviously we underestimated how passionate our voters were about having their voice heard,β Lisa M. Marra, a spokeswoman for the Cochise County Board of Supervisors, said in a news release Tuesday night.
Voters in Douglas, Bisbee and Sierra Vista reported waiting in lines for more than two hours.
Some elderly voters left without voting, telling Democratic Party volunteer Claudia Romo that they were unable to stand and wait any longer.
Cochise County has had election problems before. During the August primary, the website for the Cochise County elections department went down for several hours right before results were released.
In 2014, problems with election machines forced Cochise County officials to bring ballots to neighboring Graham County to be tallied.
