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Questions, answers on voting

Imagine McKale Center packed to the rafters. Now imagine 23 or 24 McKale Centers, all filled to capacity. That's how many Pima County residents are expected to participate in Tuesday's election - the 24th presidential vote since Arizona became a state in 1912. If elections officials are correct, right around 350,000 of our friends and neighbors will vote this year, more than in any election in state history. Thanks to early voting, many ballots have already been cast. But most voters will do their civic duty the old-fashioned way and show up at their neighborhood polling place. Is the county prepared for all those voters? What can voters expect? How would any fraud be detected? How do we avoid technology problems like Florida's? Those are among the questions the Star had for County Elections Director Brad Nelson. Here's what he had to say. Q: How busy will it be? A: We expect an 80 percent-plus turnout. The 2000 presidential election in Pima County was about a 77 percent turnout, but a much smaller number of registered voters. Q: How many polling places and poll workers will there be? A: We have approximately 375 polling places throughout Pima County. Take that 375 and multiply it by about eight and that's how many people I've got working the polls Election Day. Q: Are you prepared for the crush of voters we're expecting? A: I believe we are. We certainly have a sufficient number of ballots at polling places. We've gone through the training. But I would like to stress that people read their sample ballots prior to Election Day. That will save them time once they get inside. There are likely to be long lines, regardless of what time of day they show up at the polls. Additionally, if the polling place is at a school, parking might be at a premium while school is in session. Q: What should you do if you've requested an early ballot but haven't sent it in? A: For anyone who has their early ballot in their possession, vote that thing and take it to any polling place in Pima County. It doesn't have to be your home precinct and they don't even have to stand in line. Just put it in the envelope that it came with and drop it in the blue ballot box inside the polling place and away you go. Q: What if you requested an early ballot and didn't get it? A: Call the county Recorder's Office at 740-4330. But if people are not able to connect because it will be a busy day, they can always go to their home polling place where they would normally go to vote and vote a provisional ballot. Q: Are provisional ballots counted like regular ballots? A: No. If you were to go into a polling place on Election Day and you were in the right polling place for your neighborhood, when you go in there and your name is not on the list or perhaps you have been noted on the list as somebody who has received an early ballot, you will then vote a provisional ballot. You will get a ballot that looks the same as the regular ballot, but your provisional ballot is placed inside an envelope and on the exterior of that envelope is all your personal information that is subject to verification. In other words, is that person legitimately registered to vote, have they already sent in their early ballot? Those provisional ballots and early ballots dropped off at the polling places, each county recorder has up to 10 calendar days after the election to get all of those processed and turn them over for counting. I would imagine, with the volume of ballots we're going to be seeing, there will be many thousands of (provisional) ballots to count within Pima County. After the 2002 gubernatorial election, we had approximately 30,000 ballots left to count. Maricopa had 150,000 ballots. Q: Could this delay the final results of the election? A: Certainly it can. … Q: When will most early ballots be counted? A: Subject to verification by the Recorder's Office, they may be counted prior to Election Day. Early voting starts 33 days in advance of every election, and we have already processed close to 55,000 ballots at this point. Q: There has been some talk about poll monitors going around on Election Day making sure people are citizens. How will those people be treated? A: There are only three groups of people allowed inside polling places. Voters, election workers, and appointees of the political parties represented on the ballot - Libertarians, Greens, Democrats and Republicans. They can have one observer in the polling place. All other groups and candidates have to stay outside of the 75-foot limit. Q: Do you anticipate any type of attempted voter fraud? A: Certainly I'm not aware of any. … There are safeguards within the system. If a regular citizen knows of a fraud that's being perpetuated through the voting franchise, they can bring it to the attention of election officials and it will be handled right away. That even includes operating within the polling place, if they think a fraud is being done within the polling place, perhaps an imposter is voting or something like that, there is the ability to challenge a voter within the polling place. Q: Does that ever happen? A: You know, I've been doing elections since 1976 in Arizona, and if I have one this coming Tuesday, it will be the first I have ever experienced. Q: Have there been any problems with illegal immigrants trying to vote? A: Illegal voting by non-citizens has not been an issue. Many people have claimed that these things are going on. The county recorder here in Pima County has said, 'Well, if you have evidence of it, please bring it forward.' Thus far no one has brought out any evidence. Q: The fact that people will be outside the polling places as self-appointed monitors, is that a concern for you? A: So long as they are outside of the 75-foot limit and behave as ladies and gentlemen, they have the right for free speech. But if their actions impede, hinder or coerce someone trying to exercise their constitutional right to vote, law enforcement may need to be called to remedy the situation. If police officers are needed at a particular scene, they have members of the county attorney's staff available to help them with any questions that might arise as to where one's civil right to freedom and speech interferes with one's right to exercise the voting franchise. Q: What should voters do if they are concerned about security? A: They can ask poll workers. If a voter sees something going on that they think they might need to call law enforcement about, they would certainly be encouraged to do so. And that's pretty much what I've told my poll workers: If they have a situation that in their determination requires law enforcement immediately, call 9-1-1. Q: How do we avoid problems like Florida's in 2000? A: Among other things, Florida has approximately 65 counties; here in Arizona there are only 15 county election officials, so communication amongst the officials is much better here. We use the optical scan technology. It is extremely accurate. We had our logic and accuracy test this past Tuesday - we had political party observers, we had media observers, we had secretary of state staff here as well, going through both the devices that are used to count ballots at the precinct level, at all the polling places, as well as the devices that are used to count the early ballots. This is done a week before the election so any hardware or software problems can be fixed. We did not have any problems.