As early voting begins in Arizona, local elections officials detail security steps

The locked and sealed steel cages, badge-only access, live camera feeds, vaults, terrorism threat-assessments, backup generators, simulation trainings and bipartisan observers described by Pima County officials are not protecting priceless works of art or dangerous weapons — they are just some of the steps taken to secure the upcoming election.

Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly and Elections Director Constance Hargrove assured the mayor and Tucson City Council at their Oct. 8 meeting that the elections will be safe and secure. Early voting for the November election begins Oct. 9, at three locations in Pima County. Early vote centers can be found here .

Both elections officials walked through the many steps being taken to avoid any hiccups or misinformation and build confidence for voters in Southern Arizona.

“We want to make sure we had a public conversation about how safe and secure our elections are in our city and county,” Mayor Regina Romero said at the beginning of the meeting, before inviting Hargrove and Cázares-Kelly to speak.

Mail-in ballots are also being sent out Oct. 9. Election officials anticipate registered voters will begin to receive ballots as early as Oct. 14, which is when security guards will also first be stationed at Pima County facilities.

The last day to request an early ballot is Oct. 25. The recommended deadline to mail back the ballot is Oct. 29.

On Election Day, Nov. 5, there will be 126 vote centers open across the county. Voters can go to the most convenient vote center to cast their ballot. The website Pima Votes has sample ballots, important dates, maps of vote centers and a tool to check your registration and track your ballot status.

Securing the election

The last two election cycles in Arizona — the midterms in 2022 and the presidential election in 2020 — were followed by dispute, denial and years of unfounded accusations of fraud and corruption. While Pima County didn’t get embroiled in the level of controversy seen in other counties, with Arizona remaining a critically important state in federal elections, officials are preparing for increased scrutiny and possible contention.

“We have been working on our plans for the 2024 election all year. Many of the things we’ve been doing started in 2021,” Cázares-Kelly said at the Oct. 8 council meeting.

On Oct. 7, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes was in the Pima County Election Department’s office to witness the testing of the equipment, Hargrove said. She said that was the third test of the equipment so far, during which they ran 13,000 ballots through their tabulation machine.

Besides these tests — along with the locks on the doors and the many trainings all election workers have participated in — Hargrove underscored that ballots are always handled by a two-person bipartisan team.

“Any time ballots are present at our office, both political parties have observers here,” Hargrove said.

Cázares-Kelly reiterated the bipartisan ballot handling numerous times. “It’s very important to know that voting by mail is safe and secure, she said.

Public messaging

“It’s important to amplify the message of the county and state elections departments,” Kevin Dahl, councilmember of Ward 3, told Arizona Luminaria

Dahl said he used to be a temporary election worker in Maricopa County helping people vote who were in hospitals or care facilities.

He said it’s part of elected officials’ responsibility to “ensure Tucson residents that their vote will count and it will count the way they cast it.”

Lane Santa Cruz, of District 1, asked how election officials are combating misinformation about the election.

Cázares-Kelly acknowledged that misinformation was a serious concern, but said both the recorder’s office and the elections department have been taking active steps to combat confusion and the intentional dissemination of disinformation.

Both offices have been working with the secretary of state’s office to conduct trainings about misinformation.

“This is new language, new territory for election officers,” Cázares-Kelly said.

She said that the departments have been building up a communications team to explain what information is real and what’s fake. “We do this by demystifying our processes, making things easy to understand, making sure we’re using plain language,” Cázares-Kelly said.

As the conversation wrapped up, Dahl shared some last recommendations for the public: “Vote by mail, vote early.”

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