Voting deadlock in Arizona fuels election conspiracy theories

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PHOENIX — Printing glitches at 60 polling places in Arizona’s most populous county delayed Tuesday’s polls, but election officials told voters that all ballots will be counted. Guaranteed.

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Still, the issue has sparked conspiracy theories about voter integrity in the all-important state. Former President Donald Trump, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, and others have claimed that the Democrats are trying to overturn Republican votes, and that Republicans tend to gather in person in large numbers on Election Day.

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Lake and several other candidates on the Arizona ballot pushed false claims about the 2020 presidential election, amplifying Trump’s lies about a stolen election. But election officials from both parties and members of Trump’s own cabinet said there was no widespread voter fraud and that Trump missed re-election to Democrat Joe Biden.

The Republican National Committee, along with the campaigns for Mr. Lake and Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters, have submitted an emergency motion to extend voting hours in Maricopa County.

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“Dozens of attorneys and thousands of volunteers are working on the ground to resolve this issue and ensure that Arizona voters have a chance to make their voices heard,” said RNC Chairman Ronna McDaniel. said in a statement.

Equipment malfunctions like this are typical of every election, and officials have plans to keep voting going and ensuring all eligible votes are tallied.

The problem was that the printer wasn’t producing a dark enough marking on the ballot, so election officials had to change the printer settings. Until then, some voters who tried to insert their ballots into the ballot counting machine were told to wait and use another machine or leave their ballots in the drop-box. Those votes were scheduled to be tallied on Wednesday.

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Maricopa County reporter Stephen Richer said he apologized for the inconvenience.

“All statutory votes will be counted. I promise.”

The issue affected approximately 25% of vote centers in Maricopa County, including the capital, Phoenix. It was not immediately clear how many ballots were affected.

When voters in the country check in, they are handed a ballot for their particular precinct. It will print the races you can vote for. This process allows voters to go to any polling place in the county. Voters fill out ballots and put them into the counting machine.

Some of the 60 polling place counters did not read the ballots. This is because the printer didn’t produce what are known as “timing marks” that were dark enough for the machine to read. A voter whose ballot is rejected can try his second tabulator at that location and put it in a ballot box to be tallied at a central facility later, or cancel and go to another vote center. They said.

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Most Arizona counties do not count ballots at polling places. Officials take the ballots to a central facility for counting. Ballots left in the drop-box will be counted at that central site.

The issue has traditionally slowed voting in both Democratic and Republican areas, especially in conservative Anthem outlet malls. Some voters reported that he waited several hours before being able to vote with only one of the two tallies working.

Arizona law allows anyone still in line when the polls close to vote.

By noon, nearly half of the 232 vote centers across the county reported no waits at all, and 210 centers reported waits of 30 minutes or less. At Anthem’s location, we waited about an hour.

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At the polling place across the county, Phoenix voter Maggie Perini said she had no trouble voting, but the man next to her in line had trouble voting at another polling place. Switching to the machine that was being used, the vote took place.

“And I know a woman who was trying to come out. She tried four or five times to make it work and it didn’t work,” Perini said. “And someone told her she could leave her ballot, and she said, ‘No, no, no, no, no.’

Voter Michael McQuarrie said his ballot was not read and he threw it away for later counting.

“As long as the votes are counted, it’s good,” McCurry said. “I do not care.”

“I’m embarrassed for Arizona,” Lake told reporters after voting at noon.

“My advice is to stand in line. Don’t let this craziness stop you,” Lake said.