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County recorders deluged with early-ballot requests

A deluge of early ballot requests to county recorders across the state has delayed delivery of ballots and created concerns from some who fear they may not be able to vote early. Gus Carranza of Tucson and his wife sent their requests in about a week ago but have not received their ballots yet. Carranza would rather sit around the kitchen table and fill out his ballot than take time off from work as a warehouse manager to vote. "You can read about the issues and think about it as opposed to going into the polls and being on a time limit," Carranza said. "I know it's getting close. I was getting kind of concerned about not getting it." The Pima County Recorder's Office has sent out about 158,000 ballots so far with another 3,500 waiting to go out today. Some people who mailed their requests in had to wait as much as five days for the county to send out the ballot, Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez said. However, she said her staff has cleared up the backlog now and is sending them out within the state-required two days. "The biggest problem is people are impatient," Rodriguez said. "They have to be patient." Rodriguez said voters who want ballots quickly should avoid the mail and instead call her office. By state law, early ballots must be mailed out within 48 hours of the county's receiving requests. Rodriguez said she is moving as fast as possible and has hired 55 temporary workers to complement her own staff of about 40. That was not enough to meet the 48-hour requirement, though. "If you can't do it, you can't do it," she said. "You get it out as fast as you can." Rodriguez said the 161,000 requests so far is unprecedented for Pima County. In 2000, the last presidential election, the county mailed out 121,000 ballots. Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer said she has faith all early ballots will be sent to voters in time for them to study and fill them out before the deadline. She does not plan to take any action against recorders who do not meet the 48-hour deadline. "Because of the overwhelmingly huge interest in the election, there is not much we can do but hire more people and burn the midnight oil," Brewer said. "I have all the confidence you can have in all the elections officials." In some Arizona counties, including Pima County, nearly half of ballots will be cast before Election Day. Sue Walitsky, a spokeswoman for the Sen. John Kerry campaign, said she is not concerned people will not be able to vote. "We have had some people who have had some difficulty getting their early ballots and wondering how long it will take," Walitsky said. "At this point, there is still time for people to get their vote by mail and we hope the county offices can process them." Republicans also have faith that early voters will receive their ballots. "We are working with the county recorders to make sure every vote-by-mail application is processed and those ballots are sent out as fast as possible," said Colin McCracken, a spokesman for the state Republican Party. People who request an early ballot but either do not receive one or do not turn one in can still vote on Election Day by receiving a provisional ballot at a polling place. Santa Cruz County Recorder Suzie Sainz said her employees worked overtime this past weekend to clear up a backlog of ballot requests. "We worked all weekend and we got all ballots out," Sainz said Tuesday. "We have been working evenings. The final bulk of the requests went out yesterday." Sainz said her office has been deluged with both new voters and requests for early ballots. Already this election cycle, Sainz has received nearly 2,900 ballot requests. In the 2000 presidential election, the office received less than 1,700 requests. In addition, between the primary and general election, the county added about 1,500 voters to about 20,800. She has five permanent employees, including herself. Sainz also brought in some temporary employees to help with the heavy loads. "We had voter registrations to enter and early ballot requests to enter and people are coming in for recordings and other business," Sainz said. Sainz said now that the office is caught up, it should not fall behind again. Cochise County Recorder Christine Rhodes said she can turn ballot requests around in one day. Rhodes did not have the 2000 figure, but in the 2002 elections, about 10,000 people requested early ballots. Voters experience some delay in receiving an early ballot because they send the request to a political party which in turn must send it to the county where the voter resides. Rodriguez said that with the backlog for mail requests, it is better for people to call her office for a ballot. "We suggest that people call and not even bother mailing," she said. "You are better off calling."