Pima County Democratic Party

Board Reverses Course, Decides to Fight Release of Further Public Records

Tucson, AZ (1/15/08) The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted today 3 to 2 to continue fighting motions pending in the public records election integrity lawsuit filed by the Pima Co. Democratic Party. This decision came despite last week’s vote to dismiss the county’s appeal and to release several elections databases on Friday. The Board also made the unusual request to ask the Secretary of State to file an amicus brief despite the fact that trial was held last month after a year of litigation.

The Democrats’ pending motions ask the judge to declare that electronic election records be made available immediately after every election so that the public does not have to sue to obtain them in the future. Arizona law provides just 5 days within which to contest the outcome of an election. In 2006, Pima County delayed turning over some records to the Democratic Party for 19 days and fought the release of other records for over a year. The Democrats have also asked the judge to declare that there is no security risk in releasing the records, citing top computer experts in the field. They have also asked for attorney’s fees and costs, which are mandatory under public records law in order to prevent government agencies from denying access to public records for frivolous reasons.

“We are disappointed that a majority of the Board has chosen to continue to run up taxpayer legal fees in fighting against the public’s right to obtain public records within a reasonable time frame,” said Pima County Democratic Party Chairman Vince Rabago. “While we appreciate the County incorporating yet another of the Democrats’ suggestions to improve election integrity, the Board and its lawyers don’t seem to understand that when you find yourself in a hole … the first thing you do is stop digging. We thank Chairman Elias for his efforts to bring the Board to the negotiating table.”

Supervisor Valadez made the motion to oppose the Democrats. Chairman Elias made a plea for Supervisors to reconsider and take advantage of the opportunity to negotiate. The vote was 3 to 2, Chairman Elias and Supervisor Carroll opposing.

Included in Supervisor Valadez’ motion was an idea taken straight from the Democratic Party’s response to County Administrator Huckelberry’s proposed election plan which is still open for public comment. Supervisor Valadez directed the County Administrator to make scanned images of ballots available on the web so that non-computer experts could tally votes online.