All the mandated checks of ballot-counting machines suggest Pima County will hold a fair election, countering claims by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of fraud at the polls.
Trump has repeatedly said the election system is rigged, citing many reasons, and has asked his supporters to monitor the activity at their polling place.
But in Pima County, a person cannot show up on election day and watch the polling place without notice to the county, said Brad Nelson, elections director in Pima County.
"A person comes to their respective polling place on Election Day, casts their ballot and then out they go. They are not to loiter inside the polling place," he said.
Instead, if a person wants to observe the polling place activity, they need to contact their political party to let Nelson know where they will observe, and once there, that's all they can do, he said.
"They are not to interfere or impede the process," he said.
Regarding fraud in the vote-counting part of an election, Nelson said the state tests voting equipment for accuracy.
"The machine counts have been on the nose all the way through all the elections in all the counties," Nelson said.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake has been outspoken in his opposition to Trump for months. The Arizona Republican responded to the presidential candidate's accusation about unfair elections.
"It's irresponsible to say, or to suggest, that there's large-scale voter fraud," Flake said.
See more from them on Metro Week, plus:
- Meet the new CEO of the Downtown Tucson Partnership. Kathleen Eriksen moved from Michigan to take over the next phase of redevelopment in Tucson. Former CEO Michael Keith retired.
"I'm on fire about this. I'm very excited," Eriksen said. She's getting to know downtown in order to identify what steps are appropriate to continue its revitalization, she said.
- Check in with Tucson scientists trying to do a better job of communicating with the public. Several went through a program designed to teach them how to interact with non-scientists, and get the public excited about their work in various fields of science. Astronomer Grant Williams runs the MMT Observatory on Mt. Hopkins, near Green Valley. He says the program will help him get tourists at the site to pose their own questions about the science that happens there.
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