If there’s one thing both Cindy Coleman and Jamie Sullivan want people to know about the Pima County election system it’s this: it’s well run, and they trust it.
Coleman and Sullivan are party election observers — Coleman for the Republican party and Sullivan for the Democratic party.
“We’re all in agreement that it’s such a good process,” said Coleman.
This year, the two observers are representing their parties overseeing ballots in the tabulation room, where machines count the votes and note any ballots that can’t be read by the machine.
Sometimes that process can go until 2 or 3 a.m., so both Coleman and Sullivan tried to rest for their evening shift.
“I really wanted to go participate more at the vote centers and hand out literature but I thought better of it because I have a broken foot,” said Sullivan.
Both observers spent the day answering questions for people from their own parties about the process. In the past, they’ve taken party members and candidates to election headquarters and talked them through how votes are counted.
“It helps us to help people have faith in the process,” says Coleman.
“I think that’s why were both so passionate about observing is because we will get people every now and then that are just determined to find some kind of fraud or nefarious activity, and after one shift observing, they seem like completely transformed,” Sullivan said.
Their relationship with each other is also a key one across the party line.
Sullivan said most of the people in her life are Democrats — and she often forgets Coleman is a Republican. “It’s nice to be reminded that there are good people out there and it doesn’t matter what party. There’s just good people that want to make a difference.”
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