Our View: There's work to be done

At the risk of being politically incorrect, we strongly disagree with the ringing endorsement of the election process handed out Friday by Cochise CountySupervisors.

Its not personal, its justbusiness.

If the manager of a widget shop stood before his board of directors and told them it was their fault it took 10 days past the end of the deadline to finish the project; and cost $60,000 more in materials than it was supposed to, we find it hard to believe that the reception would be anything other thanicy.

Yet the praise heaped on the Elections Office by our three newly elected county supervisors Friday warmed the room enough to save on the electricbill.

True enough, Cochise County was not alone in its challenge with early ballots. Most of Arizonas 15 counties were hit with a large number of themin the final days leading up to the Nov. 6 election. When the curtain dropped at local polling places that Tuesday night, an initial estimate from the Elections Office put the number of uncounted ballots at about half the estimated total vote count, around24,000.

But it didnt have to be thathigh.

Cochise County Recorder Christine Rhodes reported registering about 22,000 early ballots through Friday, Nov. 2, with the first pick up by the Elections Office on Oct. 24. Secretary of State spokesman Matt Roberts said last week that counting of the early ballots could have started a full seven days before Nov.6.

Recognizing that more than 25 percent of the more than 80,000 registered voters in Cochise County had already cast early ballots by Nov. 2, it makes little sense that counting didnt begin seven days before polling day, as allowed by statelaw.

The errors made that required reprinting the ballot twice before Nov. 6 were an expensive reminder that the Elections Office is a challenging job that is best served by experienced professionals. Leaving candidates off the ballot, twice, at the time of printing could cost Cochise County taxpayers up to$60,000.

While the effort by volunteers and observers to deal with the sizable backlog of early ballots after the election is appreciated by everyone, the reports issued on the number of remaining ballots in the days after the election, created an appearance of confusion for anyone trying to keep up with the daily developments of thecount.

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Our View: There's work to be done