PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA – The Pima County Elections Department June 24 successfully conducted a mock election to aid in staff training and public education about new voting equipment to be used at Vote Centers.
“This mock election provided Elections staff the opportunity to test the new e-pollbooks and ballot-on-demand printers we will use in this year’s elections. The event allowed us to use this equipment in real-world situations and anticipate how to address a variety of conditions we may encounter during an actual election,” Elections Director Constance Hargrove said.
The new equipment the County will use in the 2022 Primary and General elections are designed to provide greater flexibility in voter choice and expedite the check-in process. The e-pollbooks contain electronic versions of the voter registration roll. A paper roster was previously used to check-in voters at polling places. The Pima County Recorder maintains this voter registration database and provides a roster of eligible voters to the Elections Office for use on Election Day.
The ballot-on-demand printers enable elections workers to print the correct individualized ballot for every voter once they are checked-in. Because the roster of voters and precinct information is contained in the e-pollbooks, voters can cast their ballots at any of the 129 Vote Center locations open during the Primary and General elections. The voter will not be limited to the polling place within their specific precinct.
About 70 members of the public participated in the mock election and the overwhelming majority were checked in and received ballots in the expected timely manner. A small number of voters, however, did encounter delays in getting a mock ballot due to a mistake in uploading the full fictitious names list for the mock election.
“This was a mistake on our part that wouldn’t occur if this were a real election. This was a defect in preparing the database for the mock election, not a defect in the system. The system worked,” Hargrove said. “It is not possible that this scenario could be replicated in an actual election because the roster would contain current voter information associated with that election’s ballots. Still, it provides an excellent training opportunity for our next mock election.”
The Elections Department plans to hold a second mock election on Friday, July 1, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Abrams Public Health Center, 3950 S. Country Club Road.
“Because we had a bit of hiccough in this training exercise, we want to hold another mock election before voting starts for the Primary Election to demonstrate to the public that this is a fast, convenient and accurate way to check in voters at Voting Centers on Election Day,” Hargrove said.
Learn more about Election 2022 at pima.gov/vote2022