On October 22, the Pima County Board of Supervisors approved a randomly selected hand count audit of the upcoming election results for Pima County, the City of Tucson and the Town of Oro Valley in a 4-0 vote. While County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry had hoped to prove verification of the votes was illegal, opinions from both the Arizona Secretary of State and the Attorney General’s office indicated that there is no legal prohibition on conducting a hand count audit of local races.
Both City of Tucson and the Town of Oro Valley were required to approve the audit which will be paid for by Pima County.
On October 27 at 2:00 p.m., Oro Valley stealthily posted the agenda for a Special Meeting to be held on October 28 at 3:00 p.m. to vote on this item. The agenda was not announced, or distributed through the Town’s automated List Serve system as is customary with Regular Agendas.
Oro Valley staff recommended the denial of this request from Pima County supposedly based on legal “concerns” that were addressed in a confidential attorney-client memorandum sent to the Council.
Staff cited ARS 16-602 and Chapter 12 of the Secretary of State’s Elections Procedures Manual along with a carefully selected comment from Secretary of State Michelle Reagan to support their reasoning. They chose to ignore her statements “…the Secretary of State encourages this voluntary exercise and believes that expanded hand counts represent good public policy,” and “The Secretary strongly encourages such efforts, and trusts that Pima County voters will be reassured through this process.”
Further, the Attorney General cited the same statute and indicates that “Pima County would not violate ARS 16-602(B)(2)(f) if it were to conduct a hand count of the races in question.”
Oro Valley citizens are outraged with Oro Valley staff’s recommendation and believe it will “add fuel to the fire” in terms of questioning the integrity of the current Council – particularly those who have been recalled. Despite their claims of transparency, they say this is yet another example of withholding information from the citizens as they have done with over $1M in losses associated with the El Con golf operations.
Verifiable election advocates are urging Oro Valley residents to email their comments to Mayor and Council and attend the meeting in council Chambers at 3 pm on Wednesday October 28th to ensure election integrity.
The current Town Council under the leadership of Satish Hiremath has thwarted efforts by the public to vote on key issues. After cutting a backroom deal to purchase the El Conquistador Country Club and its golf courses last December, residents had gathered enough signatures to force a referendum. The Town relied on a technicality to deny voters that opportunity. As a result Hiremath, Vice Mayor Lou Waters, and Council members Mary Snider, and Joe Hornat are facing recall.