A new report obtained by The Arizona Sun Times found that more than 18,000 absentee ballots counted in the 2022 election in Pima County alone had severely lacking or no chain-of-custody paperwork, meaning there is an inadequate record of the whereabouts or origins of the Tucson-area ballots.
Coincidentally in the same election cycle, Katie Hobbs edged out Kari Lake for the Governor’s office by just 17,117 votes.
After receiving and analyzing a trove of public records, two independent election integrity groups – The Pima Integrity Project (PIP) and CONELRAD Group – developed a study looking at the county’s handing of absentee ballots, specifically with regards to:
(1) Transferring ballots from the Pima County Recorder’s warehouse to the early voting sites;
(2) Transferring the drop-off ballots from the early voting sites to the ballot processing center;
(3) Transferring in-person ballots from the early voting sites to the ballot processing center; and,
(4) The delivery of ballots from the United States Postal Service (USPS) to the ballot processing center.
The administration of elections and the procedures county and state officials must follow are found in the state’s Election Procedures Manual (EPM). The statute that addresses the EPM, A.R.S. 16-452(C), states that “A person who violates any rule adopted pursuant to this section is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor.”
Jack Dona, one of the founding members of CONELRAD Group, told The Sun Times that his concern was that nothing would be done legally about the findings. “Until the judicial system definitively levies punishment and consequences for, at the least what we deem to be incompetent malfeasance and intentional acts of maladministration regarding the voting systems in the state, these issues will likely arise again,” he said.
Tim Laux of PIP added, “For several years there have been multiple accusations over cheating in Pima County. We now have receipts showing the likely possibility of this, in particular the mail-in ballots.”
Laux told The Sun Times that he estimated “8,117 mail-in ballots and all 10,032 in-person voted ballots” lacked chain of custody, since none of the ballot transfer forms contained two courier signatures as required by law, and many of those were plagued with other problems including no signatures at all. Laux reviewed 140 chain-of-custody forms from in-person early voting, and 163 forms from mail-in ballots dropped off.
The report expressed concern that ballot drop-off boxes aren’t staffed as required by law. The EPM provides, “An unstaffed drop-box placed inside a building shall be secured in a manner that will prevent unauthorized removal.” (page 71)
The report said Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly “repeatedly states that all of the ballot boxes are ‘staffed,’” but the public records the groups requested revealed that “ballot boxes remain at the vote locations overnight and in some cases, more than 2 or 3 days. Maintenance crews and janitorial staff have access to the locations where ballot boxes are stored overnight.”
The report said, “There is no security of the ballots during those times.” The groups worried that “there is nothing stopping nefarious activity, i.e., stuffing ballot boxes.” Instead, they asserted that “Ballot boxes should be delivered at the END of each voting day to the Ballot Processing Center.”
Regarding the first area of concern, the report observed, “Not a single chain of custody document shows counts of blank ballot stock.” The report labeled this “serious,” considering the county “uses homegrown software that is not certified at early voting sites.” They warned, “The potential to print ballots without a valid voter check-in is possible.”
The report said there was also no count of the ballot stock — blank paper used to print ballots — that was not used, or how and where it was transferred back to another location and the count when received there. Instead, the ballot transfer forms left most of the required fields blank.
The groups expressed frustration that partisan observers are prohibited at early voting locations. “Pima is the ONLY county that does not allow observers at early vote locations,” they said. “Why is this?”
As for the second area looked into, transferring drop-off ballots, the groups found several incomplete chain-of-custody documents. The EPM states on page 86, “For any election that includes a partisan race, at least two designated ballot retrievers of at least two differing party preferences shall be assigned to retrieve voted ballots from a ballot drop-off location or drop-box. For a nonpartisan election, at least two designated ballot retrievers shall be assigned to retrieve voted ballots from a ballot drop-off location or drop-box.”
The report said three ballot transfer sheets used to document chain of custody did not contain the number of ballots picked up from the voting location by the courier, six sheets contained no courier information, 12 sheets lacked a signature from a second courier, 10 sheets had no date or times, and sheets revealed that county employees transferred ballots. One of them was the Democratic-registered son of the Chief Deputy Marion Chubon. The other employees listed as couriers were all registered as independents or party not designated.
The EPM requires two couriers from “at least two different party preferences” to handle ballots in partisan races. However, Laux observed that the couriers were almost all independents or no party designated, none were from a political party, and many of them had recently switched their voter registration from Democrat in 2020 or 2022. One of them was David Greenwood, Pima County’s chief registration supervisor. Chubon also changed her registration from Democrat to independent recently, Laux said.
The report’s third section found similar information lacking from the chain-of-custody forms for transferring early in-person ballots to the ballot processing center. There were three sheets with no ballot counts, five sheets where the number of ballots at the vote center differed from the ballot processing center, four sheets where the ballot counts were questionable, three ballot boxes where the seals were damaged, six sheets where there was no courier at all, and 10 sheets with no courier signatures or no dates and times.
Additionally, the report emphasized a “Huge” finding, “one sheet shows a ballot box delivery on 11/15/22, 1 week AFTER the election.” Another sheet showed a second ballot box delivery on November 14, 2022. One of them was delivered by Cázares-Kelly herself.
One of the chain-of-custody forms contained almost identical signatures for both the courier and the elections employee receiving the ballots.
Another chain-of-custody form contained very similar signatures for two of the staff at the voting location.
Finally, the report found that the ballots transferred from USPS to the ballot processing center were only tracked through emails, which didn’t contain many details. The report stated, “The Pima County Recorder has the idea that proper chain of custody from the USPS to the Ballot Processing Center is via email.” The groups said, “The Recorder has stated that her ‘crew’ picks up ballots, however, we have no idea who those couriers are much less their party.”
The report said Elections Director Constance Hargrove stated that USPS employees delivered the ballots to voting locations on Election Day, which violated the EPM. Hargrove claimed that the directive came from the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. When Laux asked Hargrove about it in an email, she responded, “I do not know how many ballots were delivered on election day.” There was no agreement with USPS to log a complete chain of custody.
Laux said he spoke the branch manager for the Tucson USPS about delivering ballots on Election Day in 2022. Laux, who recorded her speaking to him, said she had no knowledge that took place.
Laux noted Hargrove frequently claims to “make copies of everything.” When he confronted Hargrove about her lack of records, he said she responded that she would rather quit her job than go to jail.
The EPM provides clear direction for chain of custody records regarding ballots. The 2019 version, which was in place during the 2022 election, states in Chapter 2: Early Voting, that chain of custody procedures must include for partisan races: “[A]t least two designated ballot retrievers of at least two differing party preferences shall be assigned to retrieve voted ballots from a ballot drop-off location or drop-box.” The two are required to note “on a retrieval form prescribed by the County Recorder or officer in charge of elections, the location and/or unique identification number of the location or drop-box and the date and time of arrival,” and “The time of departure from the drop-off location or drop-box shall be noted on the retrieval form.”
A.R.S. 16-621, Proceedings at the Counting Center, provides in part (E), “The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall maintain records that record the chain of custody for all election equipment and ballots during early voting through the completion of provisional voting tabulation.”
Arizona’s election laws incorporate the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which includes guidelines from the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), an agency created by HAVA. The EAC states regarding chain of custody for mail-in ballots that the following must be included: Who was involved in the decision or completed a process, documentation of the number of ballots collected, delivered, or counted, the date and time a process occurred, and the name and signatures of witnesses who are attesting to the event.
America First Legal (AFL) filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County in February alleging violations of chain of custody of early ballots and other illegalities. AFL accused the county of providing only estimates of ballots instead of counting them.
A previous report issued last November by CONELRAD found “deliberate malfeasance” in Pima County’s 2022 election and concluded that the election should not have been certified. A second report by both CONELRAD and PIP from February found “malfeasance,” “maladministration,” and possible RICO violations in both the 2020 and 2022 elections.
Joe Biden won the presidential election in Arizona by 10,457 votes, or 0.3 percent of the nearly 3.4 million ballots cast. According to the Arizona Secretary of State’s final election results, Biden received 304,981 votes in Pima County to Trump’s 207,758 votes, an almost 20 point difference. Pima County voters in the 2020 election made up 18 percent of the state’s voters who cast ballots that year. In contrast, Maricopa County voters made up 61 percent of those who cast ballots statewide.
Dona holds 43 intelligence and technical certifications and diplomas from civilian colleges, technical schools, and military academies and served in military intelligence before retiring as a master sergeant/first sergeant. Laux is a database expert.
The Sun Times asked the Pima County Recorder’s Office for comment, but did not receive response by press time.
– – –
Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
