For years, the Pima County election process has been shrouded in secrecy. On Tuesday, the Pima County supervisors will consider lifting the veil and vote to restore the confidence of the electorate.
Nearly 80 percent of the votes in Pima County are expected to be Vote By Mail, (VBM). Ballots are not sorted except inside the central ‘hackable’ tabulator and that, according to transparency advocates, could easily be programmed to only hack ballot batches over 300.
Advocates argue that selecting 2 precincts and performing a hand count of those ballots late Election Night, after all results are published, is crucial to demonstrate that the machines have accurately counted the vote.
However, Chuck Huckelberry and his supporter on the Pima County Elections Integrity Commission; Benny White, are going all out to stop any efforts to change their processes.
“Why would Huckelberry stop Verifiable elections you may ask?” asks transparent elections advocate John Brakey. “He is protecting his right to cheat in the future.”
Brakey is asking members of the public to join him and other advocates to demand a transparent process.
Catherine Englebrecht of True the Vote, often points out that there are those in our country who hope to cast doubt on the election process in order to sow the seeds of distrust. That distrust, she argues, could lead to apathy, and more frighteningly a suspension of elections by our government.
That is not what is happening in Pima County. As Brakey notes, he doesn’t have a horse in the race, he just wants to make sure the race is fair.
Whether it be election integrity, or voter integrity which creates doubt about the system for some, there are citizens in communities across Arizona and the country, like Englebrecht on voter integrity, and Brakey on elections integrity, who are working to ensure that our system of elections becomes one in which we all have confidence.
In Pima County, one such person is the chair of the Sunnyside Unified School District, Richard Hernandez is fighting for election integrity along with numerous residents. Last month, Hernandez addressed a meeting of the Pima County Elections Integrity Commission.
The Commission has come under fire recently for its efforts to bring transparency to the election process, which has been in doubt since the 2006 Regional Transportation Authority bond measure election.
Pima County administrator Chuck Huckelberry and Pima County supervisors Ray Carroll, Sharon Bronson, Richard Elias, and Ramon Valadez are the subject of four Open Meeting law complaints in a four month period, currently being investigated by the Arizona Attorney General’s office.
As a result, in what appears to be an move intended to intimidate the Commission and retaliate for their watchdog efforts, Huckelberry filed an Open Meeting law complaint himself against the volunteer Commissioners.
The last time Pima County resident Richard Hernandez, addressed the Pima County Elections Integrity Commission, he was asking them for their assistance to ensure a fair and honest vote count in the Sunnyside Unified School
Hernandez explained that as an “individual; someone who lives in the city and the county,” and as a voter, he appreciated the work of the Commission. Hernandez said, “The most fundamental right we Americans have is the right to vote and I’m really glad to see both sites,” engage in a robust conversation. “I don’t know who’s side you are on, or who has appointed you, because personally, it does not make a difference.”
“I wish there were forty more John Q. Publics here, standing behind me to tell you that you are doing well,” said Hernandez. “We want you to do protect us. To make sure that the process is fair.”
Pima County is the only county in the state where an unelected county administrator oversees election rather than the duly elected County Recorder.