KINGMAN — Arizona voters – those who didn't vote early or cast their ballot by mail – will head to the polls on Tuesday for a primary election that will shape the future for generations to come.
Those are just some of the nuances facing voters and the county elections department, whose director, Allen Tempert, declared his staff “fully prepared.”
“We have 37 polling stations, all staffed by around 315 well-trained poll workers,” Tempert said. “We have undergone valuable training sessions and are well prepared.”
Not only are the county's election staff tested ahead of the election, but so are the county's election machines. Three high-tech counting machines were tested last month, counting 900 randomly selected test ballots with 100% accuracy. Tempert noted that a previous manual count last year had 43 errors in a sample of 850 ballots.
“Are you saying a hand count is not as accurate as a machine count?” asked Don Martin, a candidate for Mohave County Board of Supervisors District 4, who was in the crowd gathered for the June count.
“That's absolutely true,” Tempert said. “It's not even close.”
Tempert gave a projected timeline for releasing the results, but that timeline could be affected by vote counts and other factors that are, of course, outside the elections office's control.
The first results are due to be announced around an hour after polls close at 7pm on Tuesday, with updates due to come in overnight and throughout Wednesday.
He cautioned that the final outcome of the highly-watched election may not be known for up to a week. Final unofficial results are expected by Aug. 6, one week after Election Day. Those results will remain unofficial until they are counted by county supervisors.
The gap between the polls' closing at 7 p.m. Tuesday and the release of the final unofficial tally is due in part to the volume of ballots cast by mail. In the 2022 general election, more than half of Mohave County's voters voted early (in person or by mail). In the 2022 primary, that figure was about 65%, Tempert said. This reflects a statewide trend, with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office reporting that fewer than 30% of votes came from residents making the traditional trip to a polling place on Election Day.
“There is no such thing as a perfect election, and there never will be,” Tempert has consistently maintained before, during and after the 67 elections he has worked on.
Republican-majority Mohave County elects several key officials through a primary election, meaning Republican primary voters alone will decide who will be the sheriff, schools superintendent, assessor and Bullhead City constable.
With both Republicans and Democrats fielding candidates, there will be a general election for four of the five seats on the county Board of Supervisors, but the race for the District 2 seat being vacated by Hildy Anjas will be decided Tuesday with Republicans Grace Hecht, Scotty McClure and Rich Lettman competing.
Republican incumbents Matt Smith (County Attorney), Sue Ann Mello (County Treasurer) and Lydia Durst (County Recorder) are unopposed in the primary and will be unopposed in the general election, as will Republican Rick Williams, who is seeking to retain his position as Mohave County Superior Court Judge District 5.
