On Election Day, the polling place in Kearny, a rural town in eastern Pinal County, starts with 1,905 ballots, according to a ballot report filled out by poll workers. That day, voters use 311 ballots.
Out of the 311 ballots used, three are marked as “spoiled” because voters made mistakes when filling them out, and 308 are cast, according to the ballot report.
At the county’s election headquarters, all valid ballots should be counted. Out of the 308 ballots that poll workers said were cast at the polling location, only 210 are tabulated at headquarters.
After counting, officials document how ballots were used in an audit document to check results. There sometimes can be a slight difference in these two numbers, because of rejected provisional ballots, but that number is not usually in the double digits. Seeing these kinds of discrepancies should have raised red flags, but election officials recommended certifying the results anyway.