Pinal County, Arizona’s election director has resigned due to allegations of voter irregularities and a shortage of ballots on the day of the primary

The election director for Pinal County, Arizona, David Frisk, resigned Thursday after allegations of voter irregularities and ballot shortages on Tuesday’s Primary election day.

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Pinal County’s government confirmed in a statement that “David Frisk is no longer in the position of Elections Director and is no longer employed by Pinal County.”

Tuesday’s primary election day in Pinal County saw a shortage of ballots and thousands of early ballots being sent to the wrong voters–two massive errors.

David Frisk was in charge of ordering the correct number of ballots, according to the Pinal County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeffrey McClure.

“I’m not sure how the ballot shortage happened,” McClure said. “We opened the boxes, and there weren’t enough ballots.”

“As a Board, we are deeply embarrassed and frustrated by the mistakes that have been made in this primary election,” McClure continued on Thursday, “and as such, we are taking immediate steps to ensure the November election runs smoothly, as elections in Pinal County have historically done prior to this primary.”

The ballot shortages affected 25 out of 95 precincts within the county, impacting roughly 750 out of 50,000 voters. In some municipal races, the difference between winner and loser came down to a mere ten votes.

The Republican National Committee describes the ballot shortage as a “comprehensive failure” impacting “Republican heavy-precincts” across the state. The RNC claimed that at least 12 precinct voting locations did not have enough Republican ballots due to the shortages and described the event as “inexcusable in a precinct voting location system.”

“At least one voting location was not opened at 6 AM and did not open until 10 AM; there were disabled voting machines not plugged in or with the appropriate paper to use, disenfranchising disabled voters,” the RNC claims.

Furthermore, a staggering 63,000 early mail ballots “were sent to the wrong voters due to a misprint regarding municipal elections.”

The RNC continues to emphasize election integrity programs to ensure that similar mistakes do not occur during the crucial 2022 midterm election.

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