Vote counts by drone? County asks Havasupai Tribe to consider

Tuesday, August 6, 2019  

An Arizona county is asking the Havasupai Tribe and the federal government to consider legalizing drones in order to get ballot tallies out of the Grand Canyon.

Voters on the reservation cast their ballots in Supai Village, located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Once they are tallied up, they are typically be brought up by a hiker or by horses and mules, KNAU reported, although they also have been sent electronically, according to The Associated Press.

The process could be made easier if a drone carries those tallies out of the Grand Canyon instead, Coconino County Recorder Patty Hansen told KNAU. She's asking the tribe and the Federal Aviation Administration to consider legalizing unmanned aerial vehicle flights in time for the 2020 election.

The polling precinct on the reservation is "Havasupai 60," according to a county map. Out of 125 registered voters only 42 ballots were cast in the 2018 general election, according to the official results.

Almost every reservation voter went for Kyrsten Sinema, who became the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in Arizona since 1988.

Similarly, nearly every ballot cast went to Tom O'Halleran, the Democratic incumbent in Arizona's 1st Congressional District.

County explores drone to carry vote tallies from tribal land IThe Associated Press August 1, 2019)
Coconino County Testing Drones to Deliver Ballots Inside Grand Canyon (KNAU July 30, 2019)