Maricopa County prepares for Election Day, has already tabulated 1M ballots

The Maricopa County Elections Department had already tabulated over a million ballots on Monday and said it is fully prepared for any situations that arise come Tuesday as election officials across the country prepare for a midterm with a litigious Department of Justice being wielded by an election-denying president. 

“Remember, Maricopa County is a swing county in a swing state,” Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chair Kate Brophy McGee said to a room of reporters, adding that the state is home to some of the most competitive races in the country. “Our election staff is the best in the country.” 

Maricopa County has been a hotbed for conspiracy theorists since 2020, when they made unfounded and unsubstantiated claims that President Donald Trump lost that election due to fraud. 

Maricopa County ballots from the 2020 election were later handed over to a Florida-based “#StopTheSteal” supporting Cyber Ninjas who later came to the same conclusions the county did in its tabulation of the votes: Trump lost. 

County officials on Monday stressed that elections staff are fully prepared and ready for all inevitabilities but were largely mum on the details. 

The county will have 254 polling locations open on election day with 4,000 volunteer poll workers and 800 workers at Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center, the county’s central tabulation center, also known as MCTEC. 

“We have back ups to the back up plans,” said Jennifer Liewer, communications director for the County Elections Department, adding that voters who choose to cast a ballot at the polls on Tuesday may see longer lines as people make their way out of work. 

The county is expecting 250,000 people to vote in person on election day. Of the 2.5 million registered voters in the county, over 1 million had voted as of Monday afternoon. The vast majority of Arizona voters cast their ballots early via vote by mail or at an early voting location. The county said that about 10 to 15% of voters choose to vote in person on election day. 

The county also said that the first batch of results should be posted by 8 p.m. on Election Day with another batch to come about an hour later. The county expects to post twice-daily updates in the evenings following Election Day. 

“Election results are never final on election night,” Assistant County Manager Zach Schira said, reiterating that counting will continue throughout the week. 

Late last week, the county asked the U.S. Department of Justice to ensure that none of its election observers have been convicted of election related crimes after reporting that one of those monitors had used a SQL injection attack to obtain login information from the Lee County Supervisors Election website in Florida. 

The observer, David Michael Levin, called the hack a “silly political stunt” in a 2021 plea agreement hearing.Another observer in Maricopa County worked on the Georgia fake elector plot, according to Democracy Docket. 

The county said it had a “very successful meeting” with the DOJ about its concerns and doesn’t believe there will be any further issues. 

“I don’t think any of us knew of that situation until it was publicly reported in the media,” Schira said about the concerns raised about the observers. 

Another area of concern nationally and among local groups has been the possible presence of other federal law enforcement, such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at polling locations. 

“We are not going to disenfranchise voters by having a strong uniformed presence at polling sites,” Frank Williams, the director of Emergency Management and Services for the county said. 

The county also said it is working on a solution to help voters in the Rio Verde Foothills where dirt roads have become an issue due to the historic amount of rain the state has been experiencing. Gov. Katie Hobbs declared a state of emergency for the entire state to try to help coordinate relief efforts. 

County officials stressed that voters should shy away from “rumors” and look to official or trusted sources for news on election day, specifically saying that voters should go to Maricopa.Vote if they need additional information. Voters across the state can visit my.arizona.vote. 

Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Tuesday. If you haven’t returned your mail-in ballot, you can still drop it off at a polling place or ballot drop box through 7 p.m. on Election Day.