Arizona County Suffers Widespread Shortage of Ballots: Election Officials

Officials in Pinal County, Arizona, said there was a shortage of ballots at more than 20 voting sites during the primary election this week, which left some voters without the ability to cast votes.

On Tuesday evening, Pinal County’s Election district confirmed the shortage and suggested that people use an “express vote device” instead.

“Due to unprecedented demand for in-person ballots, Pinal County has experienced a ballot shortage in certain, limited precincts. Pinal County is continuing to print additional ballots and distributing them to each affected precinct polling place,” county officials wrote in a Twitter post.

It later added that “you can choose to use the express vote device located at the polling place, or as long as you are physically in line at 7:00 pm today, you will be permitted to cast a ballot,” noting that people who arrive after 7 p.m. “are not permitted” to vote.

“Pinal County is continuing to print additional ballots and distributing them to each affected precinct polling place,” the election office said.

Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkmer and Jeffrey McClure, chair of the Board of Supervisors, issued a joint statement to FOX10 saying it was a “major screw-up” but McClure claimed he has “not seen evidence of a nefarious act.” Instead, he termed the shortage as “mistakes made on a grand scale.”

About two dozen sites in Pinal County experienced shortages in ballots, officials told the station.

“We’re all human. We’ve all screwed up. There’s nothing sinister. It wasn’t as if we said, ‘Hey, this is only going to impact a Republican, or this is only going to impact a Democrat.’ This was widespread, it was equal opportunity, it was just simply a mistake,” Volkmer said during a news conference a day later, adding that about 750 out of 50,000 voters may have been

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