The Pinal County Board of Supervisors includes Kevin Cavanaugh, R-Coolidge, from left; Mike Goodman, R-San Tan Valley; Steve Miller, R-Casa Grande; Jeffrey McClure, R-Eagle Crest Ranch; and Jeff Serdy, R-Apache Junction./Pinal County
By MARK COWLING | PinalCentral
Approximately 40 speakers over almost 2½ hours vented their frustrations with the Aug. 2 primary election before the Pinal County Board of Supervisors Wednesday.
“It was the biggest botched election I have ever worked, and I’ve been doing this for 20 years,” an Apache Junction-area woman said. She said under retired Pinal Elections Director Gilbert Hoyos, Pinal used to teach others how to run elections.
A San Tan Valley woman said a huge elections budget cut should have been the first clue that trouble was ahead.
“Anyone who is reviewing a budget in an elections department, where the budget has been cut by a third, from an off-cycle budget of $1.5 million to an on-cycle budget of just over a million dollars, that should have been, right there, a huge red flag that there were issues in that department,” Jennifer Hilsbos told the board. She continued that someone should have asked why the county was cutting the budget by a third and expecting to run an election.
Brenda Gifford of the Apache Junction area said the election problems were “fully foreseeable” more than a year in advance. A budget cut in the time of great population growth is “just illogical,” she said, and the root cause is failed leadership.
The county’s requirements, such as a master’s degree for the new elections director, “effectively or intentionally eliminated the most qualified and dedicated people already employed and eager to serve in this capacity.”
“The toxic workplace environment in the Elections Department was well-known, and it lies directly at the feet of the county manager,” Gifford said. She called for the termination of the county manager and the resignations of the supervisors. “Your own self-respect should require nothing less.”
Gifford said former Elections Director David Frisk should not be “scapegoated” for the county’s failure to provide adequate resources to a new director coming from out of state in an election year.
“The ballot shortage was known the night before, so why weren’t they printing them all night to be prepared for what they knew was inevitable?” she asked.
She said the county indicated it had plenty of poll workers to draw from, then scrambled to find workers as the election approached and was short 60 people in Apache Junction and Gold Canyon.
“There’s no excuse for this colossal failure of leadership, and it lies directly at your doorstep,” she told the board.
