There are now more than 500,000 voters on the official Pima County voter roll as of March 2013.

“I congratulate the hard work of countless grass-roots voter registration programs, political parties and activists,” said Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez. “But most of all, I thank the citizens, who have taken the important step of being engaged in their democracy and weighing in on issues that affect their families and their communities.”

Voter registration forms may be obtained at:

• the Pima County Recorder’s office;
• any Arizona Department of Motor Vehicle branch;
• all post offices and libraries;
• political party headquarters;
• city/town halls;
• online at servicearizona.com

Voters may also log onto the Recorder’s office web site at www.recorder.pima.gov and download a form to complete and mail in, or click on the link called “EZVOTER” for more information, voters may call the Pima County Recorder’s office at 724-4330. Out-of-town residents may call 1-800-775-7462 and ask for extension 4330.

Voters may also log onto the Recorder’s office web site at www.recorder.pima.gov and download a form to complete and mail in, or click on the link called “EZVOTER” for more information, voters may call the Pima County Recorder’s office at 724-4330. Out-of-town residents may call 1-800-775-7462 and ask for extension 4330.

Good news! Electronic recording of documents such as real estate transactions, land titles and divorces has dramatically sped up processing for customers of the Pima County Recorder’s Office.

E-recording is saving on paper and postage costs.

UPS is coming only once a week these days.

And with mail volume decreasing to the point the office no longer needs a full-time person assigned to handling mail, the mailroom staff has been re-assigned to recording documents.

The office launched a pilot program for e-recording in April 2012, allowing a faster, more convenient tool to record official documents for the public record.

Since the program started, more than 30 percent of the more than 206,000 recorded documents since April have been filed electronically. The program was expanded this month to any business using an authorized third-party vendor, which is a group of companies that provide the appropriate software and are well-versed on the rules and the process.

The program is picking up even more since the expansion. More than 74 percent of documents were filed electronically on one day in February.

“We live in a society that wants everything now – and the quicker, the better,” said Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez. “Paper is still fine for those who prefer that route, but for many customers, this is proving to be quicker and better.”

The process of recording a document the old way not only typically included a trip to the Recorder’s Office, but could take as much as seven days to complete by the time the document was scanned, labeled, microfilmed and mailed.

By filing electronically, customers usually receive their documents back the same day, and often within hours of its original submission.

Arizonais one of three states in the country that offers e-recording in every county, Rodriguez said, noting taxpayers and customers both appreciate the movement toward innovation and greater efficiency.

“Even though recording activity has increased significantly over the past year because of low interest rates and an uptick in activity in the housing market,” she said, “electronic recording has allowed our office to increase the speed in which documents are processed and returned to customers – all without increasing staff.”

For more information about electronic recording, please contact the Recorder’s Office at 724-4356.

Foulla Pearson, front left, in black and Cris Figueroa, front right, process ballots during ballot counting at the Pima County Elections Department on November 9, 2012.

Pima County finished counting an additional 5,515 early ballots Tuesday, Nov. 13, as elections officials continue working to finalize election results.

Of the 261,363 early ballots verified by the Pima County Recorder’s Office as of Tuesday, roughly 1,550 early ballots remain to be counted by the Pima County Elections Department.

The count will resume at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14. Brad Nelson, director of the Pima County Elections Department, said that he expects all early ballots to be counted by the end of the day Wednesday.

Approximately 27,000 provisional ballots were issued at the polling places on Election Day. The Recorder’s Office has verified and turned over to the Elections Department for counting 2,386 provisional ballots so far. The Recorder has until Nov. 16 to verify the remaining provisional ballots.

Nelson said he expects the counting of provisional ballots will probably begin Thursday.

An as-yet-undetermined number of provisional and conditional ballots issued at the polling places will not be certified for a number of different reasons, including if voters failed to provide the appropriate identification, were not registered to vote, or already cast an early ballot before showing up at the polling places.

As Election 2012 is finalized, daily updates will be posted by 6 p.m. on Pima County’s home page, www.pima.gov, with the total number of ballots counted that day.

By statute, Pima County must certify its election results by Nov. 26.

For the latest results, please visit http://www.pima.gov/elections/results.htm.

The Pima County Elections Department publishes a schedule of elections events at http://www.pima.gov/elections/PDF/event%20schedule.pdf.

If you’d like to watch a live feed of the ballot counting, please visit http://streamer.pima.gov/asxgen/wmtencoder/elections.wmv.

To track how many ballots the Recorder’s Office has turned over to the Elections Department, please visit http://www.recorder.pima.gov/ballot_turnover.aspx.