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Florence- On Monday night, a fire consumed the Pinal County elections warehouse located on the corner of Main Street and 6th Street in Florence. The building is a complete loss and the cause is still undetermined. The warehouse was empty at the time of the fire.
The Florence Fire Department responded to the fire that began at approximately 10:30 PM.
Pinal County officials say that the warehouse stored elections equipment such as ballot boxes, voting booths, tabulation equipment and computers. Total equipment loss is estimated to be $1.2 million. Voting records were not stored at this location.
“Residents should not be concerned about their voting registration and other records,” said County Recorder Virginia Ross. “Those records are kept secure on Pinal County servers and are backed up as well. Those servers are housed off site at other locations.”
Upon hearing the news of the fire, Board of Supervisors Chairman Anthony Smith said despite the loss of the warehouse, elections will be not be affected.
“It’s sad to see the loss of this voting equipment,” said Chairman Smith. “But this will not affect upcoming elections in Pinal County. We will replace these machines. This is not an option. Our Recorder has told me that the Secretary of State’s office and nearby counties have offered their assistance. We deeply appreciate the offer of help and cooperation.”
Chairman Smith praised the work of the responding fire fighters.
“They did a terrific job on getting ahold of the blaze immediately. This fire could have destroyed more property, but their quick and decisive actions limited the damage to only one building. Our thanks go out to the brave firefighters who responded to this fire and minimized damage to this historic part of Florence.”
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