Referendum ballots working fine

"The ballots were the same style, but not from the same manufacturer," said Harry Lewis, a Pima County elections division administrative services specialist.

"We will not have the same difficulties," Lewis said.

The election of Republican Fred Ronstadt to Tucson City Council was contested last week after ballots at some precincts were found to be defective.

The voting machines used on the University of Arizona campus were tested beforehand at a warehouse to make sure they were punching correctly, said Mitch Etter, manager of the Pima County elections division.

Etter added all voting machines are tested before use in any election.

Lewis said there were also people on stand-by if any problems were reported with the machines.

"The only request we received was for more ballots," he added.

City election results were called into question because of poor alignment between the voting stylus and ballot's punchhole.

As a result, voters could not puncture the ballots and no votes were recorded.

Etter said the UA used surplus county ballots, which saves Associated Students between $1,500 and $2,000.

He added that he doubted the ballots used in the city election would be used anywhere else.

"If they had a problem, they would not use them," he said.

Etter said the ballots used in the UA vote were made by Pace Williams, a ballot manufacturing firm that was sold to another company two years ago.

Defective ballots used in the city election were made by the Business Resource Corporation, he added.