By Jen Fifield | Arizona Republic
Two days before the primary election Aug. 28, Fran Heinle found out it would be just her and one other person manning a polling place in Gilbert.
She found this unusual. She had worked elections for five, maybe 10, years, and there were always at least five workers at a site, she said.
Soon after, she learned the relatively low staffing wouldn’t be the only problem she faced election day.
“I think things were not planned very well,” she said.
By some counts, at least one in three polling places were understaffed during Maricopa County’s primary election, according to an Arizona Republic analysis of a staff list provided by the County Recorder’s Office. The Recorder’s Office disagrees with the analysis.