This has to be the craziest election year I’ve ever witnessed. Florida? A disaster in the making. It seems like every day they’re finding new, uncounted ballots. Yikes. I live in Arizona and although we’re not getting the same level of news coverage as FLorida, we have a similar situation going on here.

I’ve lived here since 2005, and so this is now my 7th election cycle.The previous 6 (2006-2016) I knew who was elected the the next day with an exception one year when the vote difference was 1,000, and by state law, a recount was rquired before the vote could be certified. Still, even then, it was only 2 or 3 days later that a winner was declared, the vote being certified and everyone moved on.

So far this cycle, there are more than 200,000 ballots still uncounted because they’ve discovered these votes somehow. How any of these were ever out of the chain of custody is puzzling and disoncerting leading to, as in Florida, a lot of conspiracy theorists coming out of the woodwork. I don’t subscribe to unfounded conspiracies but honestly the only other explanation is massive mismanagement and incompetence by those entrusted securing the vote – something that has never happened before.

I could actually understand if the number were a few hundred or even 2 or 3 thousand (out of more than 2 million), but the number  being reported is way too large to be just some sort of error. What’s going on here and in Florida does nothing to inspire confidence with the electorate.

I don’t have a solution to propose because, as yet, no one is able to say exactly what happened, but one thing I do think is that the Department of Justice should be paying very close attention to what’s going on because if there is any wrongdoing found, it needs to be quickly adjudicated to return confidence in the system.

As of the time I’m writing this, we, in Arizona, have no elected officials. What the outcome of this debacle will be  is unknown and may be unresolved for months to come as their are suits, counter suits going through the federal courts. I hope that’s not the case but right now, like others here in Arizona, I’m not optimistic.

I hope I’m wrong.