When Bill Leavelle wound up at University Medical Center Monday night after a bout of dizziness, he thought he might miss Election Day.

The retired computer company executive, a 68-year-old enthusiastic Republican, was worried that his party needed every vote. So he asked his wife, Jan, to see what election officials could do.

When Jan voted in their East Side precinct, she asked poll worker Howard Lipsett if he could help. A telephone call to the Pima County Recorder’s Office was all it took. An election worker was dispatched to UMC with a ballot.

“I was rather pleased and surprised that they have a service like this,” said Bill, who was home from the hospital Wednesday afternoon.

About 30 “emergency ballots” were brought to UPH Hospital at Kino Campus, Tucson Medical Center, University Medical Center, Northwest Medical Center and the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System on Tuesday, said Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez.

“They call in and say ‘I had an accident or a car crash or something,’ and we send (ballots) out,” she said.

Before the election, workers from Rodriguez’s office made the rounds at hospitals with mail-in ballots for people who knew they wouldn’t be able to get to polls, Rodriguez said.

Leavelle is glad he was able to do his part, despite the beating his party took.

“I got my vote in,” he said.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 9th, 2006 at 12:01 am and is filed under Elections, Local. Tags for this post: B. William Poole, County, Elections-County, Local-Sci/Tech, page-a11, Sci/Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.