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Seems to us the whenever there is an election, there is much talk about fraud and abuse. Julie Bower, Oro Valley Town Clerk, is responsible for the intergrity of the upcoming town elections. In the interest of disclosure to all, we asked Julie to tell us of the procedures. The following is Julie's response:
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"Hi, Richard
In response to your recent email - yes, the Oro Valley Council Primary and General Elections are my responsibility. As you are probably aware, we coordinate our election through the Pima County Elections Department. The Clerk’s Office will be observing the process throughout the election period.
Any member of the public is welcome to observe the County’s ballot counting center, not just those appointed by candidates. There is a seating capacity so you might want to call prior to going to the center, located at 6550 S. Country Club Road. The phone number is (520) 724-6830. There is also a 24/7 live web feed of the counting center on the Pima County Elections website at http://www.pima.gov/elections/index.htm. Click on “ELECTION RESULTS” and then “VIEW THE LIVE VIDEO FEED OF THE BALLOT COUNTING CENTER” to view online. To find out when counting is going to take place, click on “ELECTION EVENTS SCHEDULE” on the main page.
The County does keep track of and reports the number of mail ballot envelopes processed each day during the election period for both the primary and general election. This information is available to the public on the same “ELECTION RESULTS” web page.
Arizona state law allows the counting of mail ballots prior to Election Day, however the votes cannot be tallied and unofficial results released until after 7:01 p.m. on Election Day. For the Oro Valley primary election, depending on the volume of ballots, the counting process will most likely begin on the Thursday or Friday before Election Day.
There is also an Election Integrity Commission whose purpose is to help improve the conduct of elections by examining the systems and processes behind them in order to improve the functioning of and public trust in the electoral process. The Commission consists of ten members - one member appointed by each County Supervisor; one member appointed by the County Administrator; and one member appointed by each of the four political parties recognized by the Secretary of State. Contact information for each member is available on the Pima County Elections website under the “LINKS” tab.
Thanks, Julie
Julie K. Bower, MMC
Town Clerk
11000 N. La Canada Dr.
Oro Valley, AZ 85737
520-229-4740
jbower@orovalleyaz.gov
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We followed this response with a question on who knows the election result and when they know it. Here is Julie's response:
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"Because the Oro Valley elections are mail ballot only, unofficial results can be released at 7:01 p.m. on Election Day. Therefore, neither I nor anyone else will be receiving any vote tallies prior to 7:01 p.m. on Election Day. The County will post the unofficial results on the County’s Election Results webpage and will update the totals as necessary throughout the night. Anyone who wants to obtain unofficial results should access the County’s Election Results webpage after 7:01 p.m. on Election Day."
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