Operatives Call for DOJ Investigation as Ballot Problems Crop Up in Red Precincts

Republican operatives in Arizona are calling on the Department of Justice to investigate after large numbers of Republican voters in conservative parts of Pima County reported they never received their mail ballots or that the ballots arrived more than a week late.

Tyler Bowyer, with Turning Point Action, posted Sunday that in some precincts, more than 10 percent of Republicans said no ballot arrived or that delivery was delayed.

“I am calling on the Department of Justice to investigate the Pima County elections and USPS in Tucson/Pima county to determine why this is happening,” he wrote. “We saw similar explained away issues in 2024.”

In conservative areas of Pima County we have large numbers of Republicans reporting they never received a ballot. In some precincts it appears that more than 10% of Republicans reported that no ballot arrived or delayed by more than a week.

I am calling on the Department of Justice to investigate the Pima County elections and USPS in Tucson/Pima county to determine why this is happening.

We saw similar explained away issues in 2024.

— Tyler Bowyer (@tylerbowyer) October 18, 2026

Andrew Kolvet, a Turning Point USA spokesman, quoted the post and asked, “What is going on in Pima County? This needs to get fixed, and fast.”

What is going on in Pima County?

This needs to get fixed, and fast.

— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) October 18, 2026

Arizona state Rep. Rachel Keshel replied that the account was “100% accurate.” She said that door knockers the day before had spoken to numerous voters who confirmed the problem, and that someone from Rep. Juan Ciscomani’s campaign said the lawmaker himself had not yet received his ballot.

“Get it together Pima County!” she wrote.

Get it together Pima County!

— AZ Representative Rachel (Jones) Keshel (@RJ4arizona) October 18, 2026

The Pima County Republican Party posted the same day asking voters who had not received a ballot to let the party know.

Pima County! If you haven’t received you ballot let us know!

— Pima County Republican Party (@RealPimaGOP) October 18, 2026

Replies included residents in Tucson Estates and elsewhere saying they were still waiting. Other users mentioned missing ballots elsewhere in Maricopa County.

@RealPimaGOP @StingerOptimus I haven’t received any ballots yet @RealPimaGOP I’m rural Tucson Estates

— 🦆🏒Austin Negrete 🇺🇸 (@Chewbakka42049) October 18, 2026

@tylerbowyer I live in Surprise Arizona , never got my ballot either .

— Alex (@RealSavPatriot) October 18, 2026

The Pima County Recorder’s Office said earlier that more than 484,000 ballots had been delivered to the U.S. Postal Service for mailing on Oct. 12, and that sorting system problems had damaged some ballots, although the agency said those issues were resolved, according to KGUN.

The office advised voters with damaged packets to call for replacements.

Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap has also acknowledged ongoing reports of non-delivery after ballots went to USPS on Oct. 7.

Arizona sends mail ballots to registered voters who request them or who are on the permanent early voting list.

Election officials have not publicly confirmed the scale of the missing ballot reports concentrated in conservative precincts that Bowyer described, and no formal Justice Department statement on an investigation had appeared as of Monday.

The operatives framed the complaints as a pattern that resembled problems dismissed after the 2024 election.

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