Hi, all! It’s Jen Fifield. 

This week, I’m thinking back to the week after the November election, when some small Arizona counties still hadn’t finished counting ballots. That was unusual — typically the larger counties are the last to finish counting.

I reached out to Yuma County Recorder Richard Colwell at the time, who told me his small staff was overwhelmed.

“I have staff who put in 80 plus hours last week,” he texted me on Nov. 11. “One election staff person put in 100 hours.”

I asked Colwell why he didn’t hire temporary staff to help. He explained that his county prefers using certified election officers to help tabulate ballots, and state law only allows certified officer training to take place during odd years. A temporary staff member, then, would have to be certified a full year before they are hired in order to help tabulate. In turn, counties sometimes only have a small full-time staff to do the work.

After the election, Colwell spoke to State Sen. Tim Dunn, a Republican, about the problem. 

A solution Dunn proposed is now seeing bipartisan support in the Legislature, and — for that reason — is likely to be signed by Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat.

Senate Bill 1319 would allow the state to train and certify election officials during the first six months of even-numbered federal election years. That means Colwell could hire temporary workers that year, have them attend the state training, and employ them through the November election. 

Dunn told me in an interview yesterday he believes that would allow smaller counties to count ballots a lot faster.

“This should really, fundamentally help,” Dunn said.

The bill would also make it possible for new, full-time staff to get certified just before an election. This is becoming more important as counties struggle to retain elections directors, and sometimes end up having to hire new ones during a federal election year.

Cochise County’s elections director, for example, just announced she is stepping down. If the county doesn’t find a new elections director soon, they could miss the state’s training for the 2026 election.

The Secretary of State’s Office, which hosts the certified officer training, has been pushing for this law change for a while. A spokesperson for the office called the bill’s bipartisan support a “win” for the office, and said the office is grateful for Dunn’s support.

The Senate passed the bill on Tuesday with near unanimous support. It still needs House approval before landing on the governor’s desk.

So while Republicans may not have been able to convince the governor to change the law to ban mail ballot Election Day drop-offs — a major cause of delayed results — perhaps the state can still chip away at the issue in other ways before 2026, to see if it helps.

When I asked Colwell yesterday if he believes Dunn’s bill would help, he offered a reminder: Along with more staff, small counties need more machines and space to count faster.

Otherwise, it’s past the deadline to hear bills in committee, and I didn’t see many other election-related bills get bipartisan support. One other one, from state Rep. Alex Kolodin, a Republican, would change how the state decides the order of candidates’ names on ballots. If you saw others, let me know: [email protected].