The AP reports that officials in Pinal County fired their elections director and said he is no longer employed.
Pinal County officials had promised swift changes during a Wednesday news conference where they did not assign blame directly on Elections Director David Frist, who was just hired in March.
In a Thursday news release, Pinal County Recorder Virginia Ross agreed to become the new election director ” to restore confidence for voters.”
Ross has been the county recorder since being elected in 2012. The office oversaw elections until county supervisors separated the Elections Department from her office in 2017. There have been at least three election directors since then.
Hundreds of voters complained Tuesday that they could not immediately vote at the polls because the county had run out of some ballots. One polling place was opened hours late because keys were not available.
At Wednesday’s news conference, Jeffrey McClure, chair of the Board of Supervisors, blamed the problems on human error. McClure called it “a major screw-up.”
The problems were the second in the primary. When mail ballots were sent out early in July, many were missing city races, and the county — a growing suburban area south of metro Phoenix and home to over 425,000 residents — was forced to send supplemental ballots to those voters.
WE STILL DON’T KNOW WHO WON
Kari Lake doesn’t yet have a final count in the primary. Since this morning, it went from 82.1% counted to 82.5% at 7:20 pm. That’s due to problems in Maricopa.
Katie Hobbs remained secretary of state, overseeing the election while running for office in the same election. She left things a mess.
Kari Lake responded to the mess.
Lake had two questions. “If your right to vote was literally taken away, is this person’s resignation enough to remedy that? How much bigger would our win be if all these people were allowed to vote?”
🚨 PINAL COUNTY UPDATE
The Elections Director has officially resigned.
2 Questions: ⤵️
If your right to vote was literally taken away, is this person’s resignation enough to remedy that?
How much bigger would our win be if all these people were allowed to vote?
— Kari Lake for AZ Governor (@KariLake) August 4, 2022
Mr. Frisk fell on the sword for @katiehobbs.
It was her decision not to allocate the appropriate resources to @Pinal_Elections.
It was her decision to disenfranchise Republican voters.
And it will be those same voters who decide to send her into retirement in November. https://t.co/6knK5ZceJF
— Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) August 4, 2022
My Democrat opponent sure isn’t off to a good start. Disenfranchising voters in the Primary Election isn’t the best way to win them over in the General Election. Very bad for her! https://t.co/ayJr4S8o7n
— Kari Lake for AZ Governor (@KariLake) August 4, 2022
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Could it be done better than this election if you were TRYING to fluff things up?
I don’t believe that there is this much incompetence. There is a sinister agenda and everyone was watching so they couldn’t do what they did in 2020. Sunshine on Government Bureaucrats and Politicians is always a good thing.
The voting officials responsible for disenfranchising voters should be charged with Civil Rights Violations. There needs to be consequences for these kinds of Shenanigans.
Even though I am a strong supporter of pro-life candidates, the first qualification for office has to be understanding and supporting clean elections.