Candidate signs line the corners Wednesday July 13, 2022 at Florence Boulevard and Trekell Road./Oscar Perez/PinalCentral
By JODIE NEWELL| PinalCentral
UPDATE: U.S. House candidate Kathleen Winn withdraws lawsuit over Pinal County’s ballot blunders
Pinal County is now facing a legal challenge over an administrative error that left some city council candidates off the Aug. 2 primary ballot.
County Attorney Kent Volkmer told PinalCentral a lawsuit had been filed.
“I know we’ve been sued,” he said. “Within the last two hours, I know that we received a copy of the lawsuit.”
On Tuesday, the Pinal County Board of Supervisors met and approved a “definitive solution” and issued new voting conditions that will apply to the towns and cities of Apache Junction, Casa Grande, Eloy, Mammoth, Maricopa, Queen Creek and Superior.
A municipal-only ballot will be mailed out to all on the early voting list. City votes made on the ballots already sent out for the primary election will be disregarded.
Early mail-in votes already submitted for federal, state and county contests will remain valid.
The municipal contest will not be a mail-in-only ballot, contrary to earlier information. Voters will now be able to vote in-person for city races if they go to polling sites.
During deliberations, Elections Director David Frisk, Volkmer and members of the public addressed the board.
Volkmer told the supervisors the new solution that had been devised to address the ballot problem was the better option, but he did envision that lawsuits could occur.
“We believe that given all the circumstances and all of the competing interests, this is the best way we can do it,” he said.
