TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Tucson City Council candidate Sadie Shaw has been denied a chance for a new primary election in her bid to replace Kevin Dahl as the council member for Ward 3.
Shaw said the Ward 3 primary had ballot mistakes serious enough to warrant a re-do but a Superior Court Judge said no to that.
The Democratic Primary for Ward 3 was headed for an automatic recount because incumbent Kevin Dahl was just nineteen votes ahead of Sadie Shaw.
The election was a primary so Democrats were supposed to get ballots with Democratic candidates and Republicans get a ballot with Republicans, For the primary, Independents can request a ballot for Democrats or Republicans but not both.
But Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cazares Kelly admitted a mistake led to some voters getting the wrong ballots including 76 voters in Ward 3.--potentially enough to swing the election.
Sadie Shaw’s attorneys say 18 Democrats got ballots for Republican candidates. She said overall there were enough mistakes to say some voters were deprived of their right to vote so the election should be thrown out and done over.
Attorneys for the city and county say nobody lost their right to vote because they worked to contact affected voters so they could vote in person.
Judge Wayne Yehling ruled mistakes were made but they did not justify throwing out the primary.
Sadie Shaw says her case was not about her and her campaign for City Council.
“I think the integrity of our election system is important. We should challenge the errors that keep happening in the county reporter's office, and there needs to be a remedy to it.” 5:48
The judge's ruling should allow the recount to resume. The primary needs to be resolved soon for the General election to run on time. September 3rd is the deadline to start printing ballots for November.
