Yuma County supervisors approve canvass of Nov. 4 school-district special elections, then enter executive session

YUMA — The Yuma County Board of Supervisors voted Nov. 13 to approve the canvass of unofficial results from Nov. 4 special elections for local school districts and then moved into executive session.

The board’s elections director presented the unofficial final results for the special elections. "I have brought before you the unofficial final results for the special 2025 special election," Speaker 3 said, identifying themself as the elections director and noting that Tom Herr, the school superintendent, and County Recorder David Latta were in attendance. The director reported ballot totals, turnout percentages and ballot-type breakdowns for the districts under review.

Why it matters: Board approval of canvass results is the county’s formal step to accept unofficial tallies and clear the way for certification by the school superintendent. Approving canvasses confirms that canvassing procedures — including signature curing and post logic-and-accuracy testing — were completed, as described in the director’s presentation.

What the board approved: For Crane Elementary School District No. 13 (all-mail), Speaker 3 reported 3,544 ballots cast and a turnout of 15.8 percent; the presentation included replacement-site, drop-box and mail counts and noted seven portal (UOCAVA) submissions. For the in-person returns attributed to Gadsden Elementary School District No. 32, Speaker 3 reported 2,304 ballots cast and an overall turnout of 16.7 percent; transcript wording for the registered-voter figure and certain jurisdictional splits was unclear and therefore is listed as not specified in this article.

Board discussion focused on how totals were combined across municipal and district boundaries. "I was just surprised that you combined them as well," Speaker 2 said, pressing for clarification whether the figures shown were exclusively for the Gaston/Gadsden portion of the city. Speaker 3 confirmed that when separated out, the Gaston Elementary figures apply only to that district but noted some presented totals combined multiple jurisdictions during the presentation.

Motions and votes: After the presentation, Speaker 2 moved to approve the canvasses and election results "as presented." A second was recorded and Speaker 1 announced the motion and second; the board approved the canvass by a voice vote. Speaker 2 then made separate, district-specific motions: one to approve the all-mail special election (Crane), seconded by Speaker 1; another to approve the in-person special election (Gadsden), also seconded by Speaker 1. Both motions carried on voice votes. The transcript records members saying "Aye" but does not provide a roll-call tally.

Executive session: Following the votes the board approved a motion to enter executive session and departed for the closed portion of the meeting; no substance of the executive session appears in the public transcript.

Numbers and data clarity: Some numeric items in the public transcript were garbled or unclear (for example, a registered-voter figure for one district appears as an ambiguous transcription). Where the transcript was unclear, this article notes figures as "not specified" rather than inferring exact counts. The elections director said signature curing ended Nov. 7 and that a post logic-and-accuracy test was completed Nov. 12 at 1 p.m.

What’s next: The board’s public actions on Nov. 13 approved the canvasses reported by the elections director; the school superintendent was to proceed with any formal certification steps required under Arizona law. The meeting then shifted to executive session, whose content is not part of the public record in this transcript.