Pima County trying to clean up mess caused by sample ballot with wrong primary date

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - Pima County Elections is quickly trying to clean up a mess that started when a sample ballot was sent to 135,531 voters with the wrong date for the primary election.

The sample ballot said the date for the primary was Aug. 30 instead of July 30.

The county is sending each of those voters a postcard with an explanation of what happened and directing them to the proper date.

It could be an easy error to make for long-time election workers. The primary has been held in August for election cycles in the past but the state legislature moved it up to July this year.

It’s very difficult for all election officials right now because one careless error will be magnified into charges of election interference or worse, which is why the county is working as fast as it can to tamp this down.

“It was not intentional, it’s not trying to mislead anybody so that they’re not going on the correct date,” said Constance Hargrove, the Pima County Elections Director.

She has been receiving phone calls from people who have received the postcard and have called to complain about the mistake.

“No excuse for it though, not excusing it at all,” Hargrove said. “We regret that it happened. I’m not trying to downplay it. It’s really bad that it did happen.”

https://www.kold.com/2024/07/20/pima-county-trying-clean-up-mess-caused-by-sample-ballot-with-wrong-primary-date/