Kevin Fink wants his vote counted.
He dropped off his early ballot at a polling station on Election Day, just like plenty of other folks. But his ballot was disqualified because his modern-day signature didn’t match the one he put on a voter-registration card he filled out some dozen years ago.
He remembers he got word from the Pima County Recorder’s Office: He had a day to get back to them or his vote wouldn’t be counted. He called a hotline number and left a message, but no one called him back. And then the deadline passed and his vote was tossed out.
Fink is a partner and chef at the award-winning Zona 78, and while he’d love to say that the restaurant gets it right 100 percent of the time, he knows that mistakes get made. But given that the state is going to recount the ballots early next month, he wants to see his vote included in the mix.
“I realize there are going to be problems, but when it’s so close like this, I thought it was really important to be able to sway the political situation here in Arizona,” Fink said. “The number one thing I hear from my generation is that it doesn’t really matter if you vote.”
Fink is among at least 133 people whose votes indeed did not count for various technical reasons—and whose ballots Congressman Ron Barber’s legal team is now trying to get back into the mix ahead of a December recount of the Congressional District 2 race. It’s a big deal: Barber, a Democrat who won Gabby Gifford’s former congressional seat after she stepped down in 2012, trails his Republican challenger, Martha McSally, by just 161 votes.
As Team Barber attorney Kevin J. Hamilton put it at a press conference earlier this week: “The voters cast their ballots in accordance with federal and state law, in some cases at the specific direction of poll workers, but their ballots weren’t counted. … If you do everything right, if you’re entitled to vote in this election, and you cast your ballot, that ballot ought to be counted.”
Hamilton knows his way around recounts. He and attorney Ezra Reese, who is also on Barber’s legal team, have between them worked on several recounts, including in a 2008 Minnesota contest in which Al Franken came back from a deficit of a few hundred votes to win his U.S. Senate seat and a 2004 recount in the Washington governor’s race that put Democrat Christine Gregoire on top. Since the election, they’ve worked with Team Barber to send operatives door-to-door talking to voters whose ballots had been disqualified and collecting declarations.
The lawyers are due in federal court today, seeking an injunction to prevent Secretary of State Ken Bennett from certifying the election next Monday, Dec. 1. Over the last week, Hamilton and Reese have asked the boards of supervisors in Pima and Cochise counties as well as Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett to delay a certification of the election until more investigation—and perhaps legal action—could put some of the disqualified ballots back into the mix, but the supervisors in both counties and Bennett rejected the idea. Bennett is scheduled to do next Monday, Dec. 1.
Team Barber’s legal team case rests on whether the deadlines and other rules to remedy the disqualified ballots were arbitrary. They say these ballots were rejected even though the voters followed the rules, so the ballots should be counted ahead of any recount. As the lawyers argue in their petition, “there are few harms greater and more impossible to repair than being stripped of the constitutional right to vote. … And it is beyond dispute that there is a compelling public interest in protecting the voting rights of Arizona citizens and ensuring the integrity of elections.”
Team McSally has asked that the entire case be dismissed. (If you’d like to see all the legal mumbo-jumbo, Arizona’s Politics been following the play-by-play and posting the arguments.)
Among the plaintiffs: 81-year-old Lea Goodwine-Cesarec, who says with considerable pride that she hasn’t missed voting in a congressional election since she first became eligible to vote some six decades ago.
Goodwine-Cesarec moved just before the election and believed she had updated her address with a phone call to the County Recorder’s Office. But when she ended up in the wrong precinct on Election Day, she says she was told to vote a provisional ballot instead of being directed to the proper polling place.
These sorts of mix-ups are not uncommon on Election Day; there usually aren’t enough votes involved to sway a race one way or another. But this is a congressional race with a 161-vote margin, so there’s a scramble on to make every vote count.
Goodwine-Cesarec sure thinks her ballot ought to be counted. She still can’t believe her vote was “thrown in the trash.”
“I really think that it was just plain wrong,” Goodwine-Cesarec says. “It’s pretty irritating to think that my vote was not counted because I wanted to vote. I got out and voted. I submitted the vote and it did not count. And that’s just wrong.”
This article appears in Nov 20-26, 2014.
Throwing out that ballot above is completely legit. It didn’t match so per the rules it was disqualified. Yes for that isolated one that should be put back in. For the other ballots NO. The rules are clear. This applies to all candidates no one is making any special rules for anyone.
Unfortunately, all we have done here is to discredit Arizona’s ability to conduct an election, who is going to be satisfied with the outcome of this debacle. We, Arizonians, need to admit failure in this and strike all the votes and hire another reputable state to come in a run a completely new vote, that is the only way all will be satisfied, no mysterious provisional ballots, no debate over signatures, just a one time clean vote.
I cant believe in the 2000’s that THESE people are that EFFING stupid?? Seriously? And Barber? Wow.. I knew he was a “politician”..but wow has HE proved it or what?? SO glad I didnt vote FOR him.
ALL Republicans should hit the County Website and VERIFY their Ballot was COUNTED.. I dont trust the Democrats and I checked mine!
How could Barbers claim only affect Barber supporters? Maybe Martha McSally has even more.
This will soon be the 2015 election. How sad. It’s no wonder they can’t govern. They can’t even run an election without lawsuits and trying to change the rules.
The point is that these people DID follow the rules as those rules were presented to them by qualified officials. As to those rules applying equally, it would be very easy for officials to skew results by explaining procedure erroneously in precinct ” A” in order to disqualify a significant percentage of votes, while explaining the same issue correctly in more favorable precinct “B” to encourage retention of those votes. Either party could (and has) done that. Maybe some of those disqualified votes do belong to McSally. If so, fine. Why the great resistance to counting them so we can see? Democracy isn’t just about who wins and who loses, it’s about adhering to a valid process. We recently celebrated the service of those who have sacrificed to defend that process. Are we now going to say that the process itself is simply not worth the bother?
My guess would be that they risk any future credibility much like an umpire that makes a call without the ability for review of the play. Once the count is in, it must not be tampered with. But it’s only a guess.
Either way you would anger 50% of the voters. Trust would erode and turnout would further dwindle. Those that don’t vote make the excuse, “what does it matter if I vote, nothing changes?” Change an outcome of an election and you will have more of those.
Democrat motos: Vote early, vote often and keep counting until we win.
More funky ballots and $ to be wasted on the outcome ? The lawyer/liars are in play hoping to find a Dem Court Judge to change the outcome. Has anybody considered that the election process is soo corrupted by $$ that about $350 is spent per VOTER We don’t have a democracy anymore, only an Election industry of lobbyists, consultants and pollsters, analysts talking heads. Fire them including all Lawyer/Liars gaming the process. Let it be certified so the District and US can get on with its business.
Better to test dumping of illegals on us with no funding for schools, welfare agencies and eventually entitlements.
And what about all those illegal alien ballots that were allowed (and we know damn well, they weren’t for McSally). Are they going to throw those out, as they well should. If they’re going to do a recount, then do it right!
Are you TELLING me the ONLY people who messed up at the Polls were Democrats????? IF any ballot that was disqualified HAS to be counted.. then that should be for EVERY election.. and for EVERY ballot…..Democrat or Republican or Other…..not just the ones that BENEFIT the Loser.
That’s why we need to go back to the old way, show up at your polling place show ID and vote, any mistakes will be found right there. This mail in crap is for the birds people mail them in or forget to and then show up and try to vote again. I stood in line waiting while a women wanted to vote the guy told her she had already voted by mail but she demanded a provisional ballet, I don’t know if they gave her one but that shows how dumbed down we have come.
Tucson is southern Arizona republicans are out numbered in this part of the state as democrats are out numbered in many northern parts of Arizona, the whining at the vote count by republicans in a mid term low voter turn out cycle is amusing, if this lady won by such a low number 161 or 133 which ever it is, she will be a one term politician like the black fellow in Florida, who was a disgraced Army officer who resigned just ahead of a courts martial for war crimes, Allen West, some times republicans win and sometimes not, much as democrats do in areas they do not hold a voter majority, its a cycle, republicans in Pima county imported a radio shock jock from Michigan who fled in disgrace after a drowned dog hoax, he has been unable to fix the GOP lack of success in Pima county, so they imported his man servant the house servant from mid west who is black but to hear him talk you would figure he is a white man trapped in a black mans body!:-) This token non-white thing has not worked for the GOP nationally and will not work in a city, county where racial diversity is not going to be a stronghold for obvious racists and their pets!
In 1960’s the GOP came up with the southern strategy, it succeeded in appealing to angry southern, mid western segregationists, racists! The came to the GOP in droves did they all leave no, we see that in Missouri today, but do they appeal to normal human beings no, only degenerate racists who hate for no other reason than they hate anyone not like themselves! The tide is changing due o a quirk called birth rates, demographics, in time the racists as many of us white folks will no longer be the majority, now us normal white folks fear not, since the constitution protects minorities against the abuse of majorities, the racists fear losing their power, status and ability in some states and small pockets within some states to discriminate, its coming to a end in time and it will be so sad for them!
If this doesn’t work Ronnie will cry “foul” or, worse yet that the GOP stole another election. At least WE don’t have a hanging chad problem ;-}
As I’m typing this the announcement of the winner of the recount is soon to happen. This has been an unprecedented event for the county and I hope the people who had their ballots excluded were contacted and given another chance to verify a signature or address.
Having been stationed in many other countries I am always thankful when we have another peaceful change to our gov’t. Those who feel our system is hopelessly flawed should consider being in a marketplace in another country the day after some election results. In some instances opinions were expressed with a hand grenade though the bombers vest seems to be the replacement of choice.