Poll workers in Navajo County found approximately 3,000 blank ballots from the 2024 general election still sealed in shrink-wrapped packages inside a closet during the July 21 primary, prompting an investigation into why they were never returned or detected during post-election reconciliation.
Navajo County announced Monday that the ballots were stored in a storage tub at the Heber-Overgaard polling location, a building used primarily as a Navajo County Sheriff’s Office substation. Officials said the ballots contained no voter selections, were never cast or tabulated and did not affect any 2024 results.
Poll workers are required to reconcile ballots cast, damaged, spoiled and unused against the total delivered to each precinct. The signed Heber-Overgaard reconciliation form nevertheless reported that every ballot had been accounted for. County officials said the discovery proved the unused ballots were not returned to the tabulation center and that post-election verification failed to catch the discrepancy.
County Manager Bryan Layton called the incident a “serious procedural failure.” Navajo County has secured the ballots, preserved relevant records and asked the Sheriff’s Office to assist with an administrative review of ballot inventory, chain of custody, reconciliation and return procedures.
The county said immediate changes will include a dedicated verification team, stronger poll-worker training, revised ballot-accounting checklists and documented confirmation that physically returned ballots match precinct records. Federal election guidance likewise recommends accounting for every unused ballot and verifying and signing all chain-of-custody documents.
A 2024 Navajo County election FAQ described its reconciliation checks as confirming that ballots sent equal ballots received and returned, including unused and spoiled ballots. The county said it will release more information after its review is complete.
