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Voting machines, mail ballots and recorder procedures draw scrutiny at Cochise County meeting
Summary
Public commenters raised concerns about voting machine testing, test-lab accreditation, and recent changes to procedures for overseas (UOCAVA) ballots. Board members asked staff to arrange a meeting with the county attorney, the elections director and the county recorder; elections staff said training and a logic-and-accuracy test are scheduled.
Public commenters at the Cochise County Board of Supervisors meeting on Aug. 19 pressed the board on voting-machine testing, the accreditation of voting system test laboratories and recent changes to procedures for overseas voters, and county staff described near-term training and testing steps.
Bradford (who identified himself on the record as Radford) Hyde, an attendee on Microsoft Teams, criticized the county’s handling of voting-machine compliance and the public record around it, saying the county elections director had mischaracterized whether the U.S. Election Assistance Commission tracks state engineering change orders. Hyde said VSTLs (voting system test laboratories) had not been accredited for some recent cycles and raised public-records concerns: “The VSTLs are not accredited and have not been accredited for a period of time in recent election cycles,” he said, and he said a public-records request seeking documentation had not received needed responses.
Allison Morris (appearing online) urged the board not to approve minutes from the Aug. 5 meeting without amending them to include her public comment, saying she was omitted from the call-to-the-public list and asking that recordings and a draft publicity pamphlet for a jail district tax election be posted. “I respectfully request that the minutes from 08/05/2025 not be approved today as written. My name was omitted from the call to the public,” Morris said.
Tamara Burch, a Bisbee resident, told the board she supports continuing vote centers and widespread mail- and early-voting options, warned against returning to 55 precincts and against a 100% hand count, and urged adherence to state and federal law. “Don't change something, and if it's not broken,” Burch said, adding that mail-in ballots provide convenience and that hand counts are costly and prone to error.
Board members and staff discussed next steps. Supervisor Gomez and other supervisors said they planned to set up a meeting with the county attorney, the elections director and the county recorder to address issues raised about test-lab accreditation, engineering change orders and precinct organization. The county recorder and elections director were reported to be scheduling training this week for the new UOCAVA (overseas and military voter) procedure; an elections staff member confirmed a logic-and-accuracy test for equipment would be held Aug. 22 and that voter registration for the Sept. 23 CD7 special election closes Aug. 25.
No formal action was taken on elections policy at the Aug. 19 meeting; the board directed staff to coordinate the follow-up meeting and to continue communicating scheduled training and testing to the public.
Why it matters: questions about accreditation, testing and changes to vote-handling procedures touch on how the county demonstrates compliance with state and federal election guidance and how it communicates procedural changes to voters and stakeholders.
What the county said it will do next: staff will convene county legal and elections officials to review the issues, the elections office will carry out its scheduled logic-and-accuracy test and planned trainings, and supervisors said they will discuss whether to pursue legislative or association-level changes through the Arizona Association of Counties and County Supervisors Association.
