Frustrated with Arizona's slow vote-counting? This story will soften your heart.
We’re fast approaching one week since Election Day, yet Arizona still has not finished counting votes. While this is not uncommon for the Grand Canyon State, it nevertheless generates attention in the news media every even-numbered year. The following story, printed in Battle Line in 2022, explored the reasons behind Arizona’s vote-counting delays.
The inordinate amount of time it has taken to get election results out of Arizona has led to anger and confusion on both sides of the aisle. How can a state still not have its election results tabulated a full week after Election Day?
Upon hearing this feel-good story, your feelings of anger will have no choice but to subside. Per statute, Arizona is among only a few states in which every vote is counted and certified by one person. In Arizona, that person is 89-year-old Irene Carter, who has been the state's sole vote-counter in every election since 1956. She took over the job when she was only 23 years old and has dutifully never missed an election.
"Irene is the soul and spirit of Arizona," said former Governor Doug Ducey. "She's a trooper. No excuses. She just puts her head down and does her job."
Carter was instrumental in returning Arizona to all-paper ballots back in 2012 after she complained that the penmanship of the state's voting machines was below par.
Although she still enjoys what she does, Carter admits that she doesn't move as quickly as she used to. "I can usually go for about an hour before my hands begin to hurt," she said.
"At that point, I need to take a 15-minute break before I get back to it."
She said the crocheting she does throughout the year is helpful, but nothing can prepare for the onslaught of ballots that are dropped on her desk every other November.
Adding to the delays is Irene's legendary status in the state, which leads to dozens of Arizona residents each day dropping by the Board of Elections headquarters to pay her a visit. They sometimes sit for awhile, drink tea and listen to her tell stories about when she was a little girl growing up on her family's ranch. Irene loves her home state and never has a nasty word for anybody.
So while other parts of the country grow antsy over Arizona's election results, the state's residents aren't bothered a bit. They love their system and they sleep soundly at night because they know their elections are in good hands.
Even if those hands sometimes hurt.