Supervisor Ally Miller is complaining that she cannot be one of the observers who will monitor Pima County election workers this afternoon.
Miller had planned to sit as an observer for the Republican Party at the county Elections Department while workers run early ballots through tabulation machines.
But Miller was told her presence would violate state law.
Miller did not return calls for comment on the issue on Wednesday, but she took to Facebook to complain.
βSo ... Brad Nelson (Pima County Elections Director) said it is illegal for me to be an observer at the elections office since I hold an elected office,β Miller wrote on her Facebook page Wednesday night. βI plan to call him to verify that I lose all my rights as a citizen who simply wants to observe an election because I am elected.β
Despite Millerβs protests, elections officials appear to be following state law.
According to the Arizona Secretary of State elections manual: βExcept for a County Recorder whose name is not on the ballot and who is carrying out official duties, no public officer serving in an elective office, or any candidate for an elective public office at the election shall be permitted to enter: the central counting place, any other operational area where ballots are being processed or tallied, any area where a board has been convened, or any area where decisions about ballots are being made.β
Even though Election Day isnβt until Tuesday, county elections officials started tabulating early ballots Wednesday, Nelson said.
He said the ballots come to the department in batches following verification from the Pima County Recorder. Elections workers then run the ballots through tabulation machines, keeping them in the same batches they arrived in.
The counts are kept electronically on department computer servers until 8 p.m. on election night, when the county begins to release results.
Millerβs protest wasnβt the only election-related uproar Wednesday.
Some county elections critics circulated emails about a county elections worker seen on video opening a sealed cabinet at elections headquarters that contained a tabulation machine.
βThat should have been done with observers from the political parties and the accuracy and certification board,β Nelson said.
During election season, the county runs an online video feed of the room where workers sort and count ballots.
Representatives from the major political parties are present most of the time to monitor the workers.
Nelson said the employee reset the machine after a sample count of ballots was conducted as part of the verification process under supervision of the Accuracy Certification Board, which certifies the tabulation machinery.
βThe opening of the cabinet without party reps observing is contrary to our procedures,β Nelson wrote in an email to County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry. βThe remedy is that we will conduct the logic and accuracy test again β¦ prior to counting ballots.β
That test was conducted Wednesday morning to the satisfaction of the board, Nelson said.
He noted that no ballots had been counted when the incident occurred.
