PHOENIX — You’ve heard the excuse, “The dog ate it.”
But in Shar Crone’s case, the dog really ate it -- and it was the Prescott woman’s early ballot, all filled out and ready to mail.
Arizona election offices are getting a lot of calls about ballots the dog ate, the coffee spilled on or just got messed up.
What should those voters do?
“Mine was lying on the floor all shredded up and half eaten, and i knew it was him,” Crone said from her Prescott home, with the perpetrator, her border collie Koda, in her lap.
“I just looked and I went, ‘Oh no, now what am I going to do?’ We're early voters.”
Crone knew enough to call the Yavapai County Recorder’s Office.
“I reported my dog,” she said. “The woman laughed on the other end.”
Crone's ballot was replaced, and the new one was quickly signed, sealed and delivered. Elections officials across the state are getting those calls.
Here's what to do if your early ballot's been trashed:
- You can request a replacement mail-in ballot from your county elections office.
But you’d better hurry: The deadline is on Friday.
- Your safest bet is to go in-person to any vote center, tell them what happened and cast a new ballot there.
You don't have to bring the ruined ballot with you.
“You are not required to take that ballot with you if you are requesting to vote in person, instead of that ballot that you tore or maybe spilled something on,” said Erika Flores, deputy communications director for the Maricopa County Elections Department.
You can get more information at Maricopa.Vote.