TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — There was a tense feeling in the air as Cochise County Sheriffs Department cars surrounded the Cochise County Offices on Saturday, but it was a peaceful scene. They were there to make sure everything went smooth as volunteers counted 2 percent of the ballots by hand.
This came after a controversial decision by the Cochise County Board of Supervisors to hand count one hundred percent of the ballots.
Arizona law only allows counties to hand count 2 percent of the ballots in order to make sure the machines counted them correctly.
After Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs threatened legal action against them, the Cochise County Supervisors unsuccessfully appealed to the Arizona Court of Appeals and the Arizona Supreme Court.
The county’s supervisors then decided to follow Arizona law and not go through with the 100 percent hand count. Instead they approved a hand count to audit all of the county’s precincts.
However, some Cochise County residents like Rachel Whyte are against the 100 percent hand count. She said she has confidence in the county’s election system and the voting machines.
“I don’t know why they want to waste their time when the machines are infallible,” Whyte said.
Alexander Kolodin, the attorney representing Cochise County’s recorder said the Arizona courts allowed the county to recount election day ballots by hand from up to 16 out of the 17 voting centers that were randomly selected.
He feels like recounting 100 percent of the ballots by hand comes down to election safety.
“The machine results have already been tabulated. All it is is a safety device and I don’t see how anybody could oppose that,” Kolodin said.
County Recorder David Stevens said he is not counting the ballots by hand. He said that will be done by the elections director.
The Associated Press reported the Cochise County Board of Supervisors is proposing to expand the count to 99.9 percent of the ballots cast on Election Day.
The county is hoping to certify the election results at the end of this month.
However, some residents like Toby Merrick said he’s comfortable with the county’s current system of tabulating votes.
“There’s never been any evidence that anything hasn’t worked,” Merrick said.