TUCSON, Ariz. -- In her nearly 30 years as Pima County Recorder, F. Ann Rodriguez says she has never worked an election quite like this one.
In fact, she has worked seven elections and tells KGUN9 she had thought she’d seen it all. That is, until the 2020 election.
“I’ve been the Pima County Recorder since 1993. That was the same year Bill Clinton won the election,” she added.
So, she has experience.
Rodriguez says her staff was geared up and ready to go, preparing for a huge voter turnout. Then...
“Everything changed when COVID hit. The planning. The strategy. How we do the election center. We decided to do two shifts in order to process the ballots,” she told KGUN9.
She hired more than 250 employees to get the job done. That is more than she has ever had.
“God we processed 458,000 ballots, 25,000 went to my early voting sites, but only 50,000 people went to the polling location, and out of those 50,000 people, 18,000 had to vote a provisional ballot,” said Rodriguez.
She also says more than 120,000 people voted curbside.
Through the increased turnout, she says things couldn't have gone better.
“We had a smooth election here in Pima County. We just had a huge volume. We’re still going,” she added.
Which is why it may take awhile to get the results in.
Here’s her message to voters.
“I pray and I hope sincerely that the citizens of this county, and across the state and across the country take this passion and continue it for every election,” Rodriguez told KGUN9.
She will not be seeking reelection this year. So, here is her message to Pima County.
“I love my job. I really love my job. IT’s like a vocation for me. It;s what I wanted to do. I worked extremely hard to get here. I tried to do the best I could for the people of Pima County, but it’s time for me to move on…” she said.
