PRESCOTT – During Primary Election Night Reporting, Yavapai County, working with new election equipment, experienced technical difficulties properly exporting the results file out of its system. Yavapai County worked throughout the night and exported a results file at approximately 5:40 a.m. Once Yavapai exported the file, that data was successfully uploaded into the state election night reporting system without difficulty. It does not appear to significantly change the results of the primary.
A press release from Leslie M. Hoffman, Yavapai County Recorder, stated:
The elections results for the Primary Election of August 26, 2014 were accurately tabulated, published on the Yavapai County website, and reported to the Arizona Secretary of State. There was a delay in reporting election data to the Secretary of State due to a communication issue that slowed the export of the data to the Secretary of State. The new Unisyn Voting Solutions’ equipment installed by Yavapai County pursuant to ARS 16-442(F) performed as designed. The new equipment is certified by the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission and used in multiple jurisdictions across the country. The vote tabulations were accurate and posted on the County website beginning at 9:30PM and the election data uploaded to the Secretary of State by 6:00AM. The Elections Department is working closely with Unisyn Voting Solutions to resolve the communication issue that created the delay.
The office of the Secretary of State stated in their email:
In May 2014, Yavapai County approved this election equipment for experimental use pursuant to A.R.S. 16-442(F). Since the Secretary of State’s Office certifies an end-to-end voting system, the system as configured in Yavapai County was not certified by the State. This new election system, Unisyn OpenElect, is only used in Yavapai County.
A.R.S. 16-442 referenced provides:
The secretary of state or the governing body may provide for the experimental use of a voting system or device without a final adoption thereof, and its use at the election is as valid as if the machines had been permanently adopted.
Unisyn OpenElect voting systems is part of International Lottery & Totalizator Systems corporation which makes online wagering systems for horse racing and lottery systems. According to the company website, Berjaya Lottery Management (HK) Ltd. in Wan Chai, Hong Kong has become their major shareholder. The Unisyn OpenElect voting system was approved for use by the Election Assistance Commission in 2005.
It appears that the voting problem is not a significant factor in the CD-1 race between Andy Tobin and Gary Kiehne, despite television news reports.
What is a factor are the votes yet to be tabulated. According to a press release by the Secretary of State there are still votes yet to be tabulated in Coconino and Yavapai Counties. There are still 2,596 early and 984 provisional ballots yet to be tallied in Coconino. There are 1,894 early and 507 provisional ballots remaining in Yavapai. Only 470 votes separate Tobin from opponent Kiehne.
The current results are not official as the canvasing process is not over. Counties have five-days until the close of business Wednesday, September 3 to verify and process the remaining ballots. A state canvas to certify the election results for national, State and legislative races is scheduled for September 8.
Yavapai County election officials did not respond to a phone call for an interview, but did issue a press release through the office of the Secretary of State.