PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Election officials and lawmakers across Arizona are looking for ways to improve the efficiency and security of future elections.
The last election went smoothly, and there’s never been evidence of widespread fraud. Still, there were a few glitches, and it took 11 days to count the ballots fully.
That has lawmakers on the state and county levels searching for ways to make adjustments.
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is warning that there are significant infrastructure weaknesses in the technology systems that are crucial to our elections.
He says they need to be updated, which will be a big priority moving forward.
“I don’t know of a single county or election official that thinks that Avid is in great shape,” the former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer said.
Richer is weighing in on changes that could prevent future election problems.
This comes after Secretary of State Adrian Fontes called for updates and improvements to the election infrastructure system, such as the statewide voter registration system known as AVID.
“I think that would be among the best uses of resources. I think the secretary could deploy,” Richer said.
Last year, a glitch in AVID was discovered, impacting about 200,000 Arizona voters. In past elections, these voters were allowed to cast their ballots without ever having to prove their citizenship.
It caused a political commotion, but the state supreme court eventually ruled all those affected could vote in local, state and national elections.
RELATED: Fontes releases list of 218K Arizona voters who don’t have proof of citizenship on file
“To make sure that the person has proof of citizenship on file. That was a big story a few months ago that flowed through AVID and so it’s very important that the system is functioning,” Richer said.
Richer says it’s something that needs to be fixed.
However, it’s not something that would affect another common complaint: slow election results.
Richer says that is a much more complex problem.
“Avid has a myriad of problems, and it has not been given the attention it needs. It isn’t specific to anyone’s administration or assigning blame to any person,” he said.
The Secretary of State’s office released this statement regarding potential upgrades and changes:
“At the heart of our work is our commitment to the people of Arizona – ensuring that our economy runs smoothly, our democratic processes remain transparent and accountable, and our state continues to thrive. While we are excited to work with legislative leaders on election reforms, our office is going to prioritize modernizing our election systems. There are significant infrastructure weaknesses in our technology systems that need updating, including our AVID system (statewide voter registration system) and our Election Night Reporting and Election Management Systems. As the Secretary says, “We’ve been penny wise and a pound foolish when it comes to some of the most critical systems.”
The Maricopa County Supervisors were sworn in on Jan. 6. Vice Chairman Thomas Galvin says he will work to improve the county’s election system and public safety and supports a full review of how the county runs elections and tallies votes.
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