As the City Of Tucson conducts the routine mail in ballot election, Pima County, notorious for questionable election practices, decided to implement a pilot project in the Nov. 5 Vail incorporation election.
Now, voters who go to the polls will be able to use a mobile computer that’s smaller than a laptop to sign for their ballots and that doesn’t seem to be causing problems, but they’ve made all sorts of changes to polling locations in Vail, and it is causing great confusion. Many believe it is interfering with voters’ access to the polls.
The Elections’ department website had different polling place locations listed when someone plugged in their address than what was received in the mail and/or listed on the Recorder’s site. The Elections department claims their website was pointing to polling site information from the 2012 General Election rather than the current election polling place sites. As a result, the Elections department shut down the search option on their site for the Vail election. In addition, residents say that they have been able to vote at polling places by their homes, but they are now being sent to vote much further away.
County Manager Chuck Huckelberry is not in favor of the Vail incorporation, and while technological change might make the voting process more efficient, it won’t matter if the voters can’t get to the polls.
There are approximately 7,000 voters within the proposed Vail boundaries who are eligible to vote. Approximately 4,000 of these voters are on an early voting list and will be mailed an early ballot, so as many as 3,000 votes may be cast at the four polling locations in Vail on Election Day.