About 500 Cochise County voters received incorrect ballots in the mail this week, and it appears to be connected with ballot measures related to efforts to regulate groundwater pumping in two parts of the county.
Cochise County Recorder David Stevens says his office has determined some voters on the Active Early Voting List (AEVL) received ballots which were missing a contest involving whether to create a water active management area (AMA) while others received a ballot which included the AMA question despite not being entitled to vote on the issue.
Ballots for the Nov. 8 General Election were mailed out to AEVL voters Oct. 12. Stevens told Arizona Daily Independent a voter within the boundary of one of the proposed AMAs inquired Friday as to why the contest was not listed on his ballot. Further research led to the discovery of roughly 505 incorrect ballots, according to Stevens.
The problem stems from a human error made within his office, said Stevens, who will meet with his staff Sunday to determine how best to correct the problem. They will also be reviewing ballots already sent out to military members and their families who cast votes through the Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) for any indication of the same error.
Cochise County is not the first Arizona county to experience problems this year with incorrectly printed AEVL ballots.
More than 60,000 voters in Pinal County received incorrect ballots in the mail for the August primary election, when a programming error that was overlooked during the county recorder’s quality control inspection sent voters a ballot missing various municipal races, while other voters received ballots printed with races they were not eligible to vote in.
The impacted contests in Cochise County involve whether voters within already determined boundaries wish to designate a Douglas Groundwater Basin active management area (Douglas AMA) over a large swath of southeastern and southcentral Cochise County and designate a Willcox Groundwater Basin active management area (“Willcox AMA”) across parts of northern Cochise and southern Graham counties.
Proponents of creating the two AMAs submitted a sufficient number of petition signatures this summer to get the matters on the Nov. 8 General Election ballots.
They argue that unregulated groundwater use will lead to a growing number of residential wells going dry.
Some restrictions were already put in place Aug. 30 when the Cochise County Board of Supervisors certified the two AMA questions for inclusion on the General Election ballots.
Opponents of the AMAs argue that implementing groundwater restrictions interferes with property rights and will harm future economic development in those areas. AMAs could also have unforeseen consequences for all residents and property owners, opponents argue.
It is unclear as of press time whether any Graham County ballots were printed incorrectly.