Republican state lawmakers have requested an investigation into Democratic Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly for allowing staff to close an online portal residents used to request vote-by-mail ballots.
The request was filed with state Attorney General Kris Mayes last week by Reps. Rachel Jones (R-Tucson) and Teresa Martinez (R-Casa Grande) and accuses Cázares-Kelly of violating the spirit of state election laws.
At a Pima County Board of Supervisors meeting last month, Cázares-Kelly explained that — because of an unrelated delay not caused by her office — the portal was being flooded with requests from voters, and the staff decided to close it early because they wouldn’t be able to respond in time.
“We are not infringing on one’s constitutional rights by not having an online request form available, and so we closed that because we were running into concerns about the timeliness of being able to respond to those requests,” Cázares-Kelly said.
She said the portal is being redesigned so the issue won’t happen again and noted that making the online portal available is a courtesy to voters and not something state law requires. Finally, she said that the majority of voters who reached out through the portal were already having their request for a ballot carried out.
One member of the board (the lone Republican) called for an investigation into Cázares-Kelly’s office, but the board voted 4-1 against the request.
Cázares-Kelly reminded the board that residents could still call, fax, communicate in person and vote either by mail or in person, therefore, she doesn’t agree it’s fair to say anyone was disenfranchised by the portal closing early.
But, because the portal has existed for some time and it closed abruptly, the lawmakers said, there must be some accountability.
“When nearly 4,000 voters face barriers to requesting a ballot, and when questions about unlawful voting and ballot processing are met with silence, it’s clear that immediate action is needed to restore public trust,” Jones said in a statement.
The GOP lawmakers also accuse Cázares-Kelly of running a “reckless” inmate voter-registration program. They said they want her to assure them that she’s doing everything she can to ensure that felons aren’t being registered through the program.
