Update: Maricopa County refuted Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s claim that there were two-hour waits at most Maricopa County polling places. In a tweet, the county stated that the “vast majority of Vote Centers are seeing wait times under 30 minutes.” Additionally, the county’s Election Department announced that voters who checked into a polling station but wish to cast a ballot in another polling site “must first check out with a poll worker at the SiteBook to return the issued ballot.” It added, “After checking out, the voter will be able to vote at any of our locations. Find them at http://Locations.Maricopa.Vote”.
Some 20 percent of polling locations in Maricopa County, Arizona, are having issues with vote tabulation machines, according to an official.
“In about 20 percent of vote centers… when people will go, and they try and run the ballot through this tabulator, maybe one out of every five or so of those ballots they’re not going through,” Bill Gates, the chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said on Tuesday morning.
Maricopa County’s Recorder Stephen Richer and Chairman of the County Board of Supervisors Bill Gates confirm an incredible *20%* of polling places are experiencing problems with machines tabulating votes.
This is manufactured chaos. Stay in line. Vote in person. pic.twitter.com/xTNg35zI8T
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) November 8, 2022
Democrat gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs is in change of Arizona’s elections as Secretary of State.
Turning Point USA’s Tyler Bowyer tweeted a video from a polling location in Anthem, Arizona, early this morning, where one poll worker said a tabulation machine was “taking about 75 percent” of ballots successfully, and another tabulator was completely down.
Long lines in Anthem, Arizona with Poll Workers explaining that the @maricopacounty machines are not working.
Do not get out of line! pic.twitter.com/lInh8KnTz3
— Tyler Bowyer 🇺🇸 (@tylerbowyer) November 8, 2022
The poll worker said:
So what happens; we have two tabulators. One of the tabulators is not working, okay. The other tabulator is taking about 75 percent successful, so 25 percent of them are being misread, and it could be a printer issue, or it could be the tabulator itself. So when it’s misread, you have an option to put it into what’s called “Box Three” and it gets read. Whether it goes downtown and gets read manually or whether it gets refed into our tabulators, it will get read. No one’s trying to deceive anyone.
However, Dr. Kelli Ward, the Republican Party of Arizona Chairwoman, urged voters not to place their ballots in the third box for tabulation, asserting that Maricopa County “will NOT be tabulating ballots downtown today.”
DO NOT PUT YOUR BALLOT IN “BOX 3” TO BE TABULATED DOWNTOWN. Maricopa County is not turning on their tabulators downtown today! Make sure you put your ballot into the tabulator yourself & that your ballot is accepted. DON’T PUSH THE GREEN BUTTON as it puts your ballot in “Box 3.” https://t.co/jC19hqlK99
— Dr. Kelli Ward 🇺🇸 (@kelliwardaz) November 8, 2022
“DO NOT PUT YOUR BALLOT IN ‘BOX 3’ TO BE TABULATED DOWNTOWN,” Ward tweeted. “Maricopa County is not turning on their tabulators downtown today! Make sure you put your ballot into the tabulator yourself & that your ballot is accepted. DON’T PUSH THE GREEN BUTTON as it puts your ballot in ‘Box 3.’”
“If all else fails, ask to use the ACCESSIBLE VOTING DEVICE. Do not leave without voting IN PERSON,” wrote Ward in a follow-up tweet.
She emphasized that once “you’ve signed in at a polling location, you cannot spoil your ballot and go somewhere else.”
If you have already *checked in* at a Maricopa County voting location where the tabulators do not work, you should *not* leave and go to another location without casting a vote. Your provisional ballot at the new location likely will not count. (1/2)
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 8, 2022
She also blasted Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer.
Richer asserted that there were “tabulator issues at a few locations, but the backup plan allows those votes to still be tabulated.”
Over 23,000 people have already checked in in person and successfully voted.
We have tabulator issues at a few locations, but the backup plan allows those votes to still be tabulated. https://t.co/sn3xKGBgvD
— Stephen Richer—Maricopa Cnty Recorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) November 8, 2022
ABC15 reporter Amelia Fabiano tweeted that there was “an issue with the tabulation machine” at Burton Barr Library in Phoenix. Due to the issue, poll workers reportedly told Fabiano that the location was “a ballot drop off site ONLY currently.”
The official Maricopa County Twitter account informed Fabiano that the issue was due to a password that was “entered too many times so built-in security measures locked the machine.”
“Update: Voters at Burton Barr have three options,” the county tweeted. “They can drop off ballots at door number three, wait for tabulator to come online, or go to another location nearby.”
At 6:09 a.m. local time, the Maricopa County Recorder’s official Twitter account responded to Fabiano’s initial tweet.
Check in stations are now working at Burton Barr Library. Voters who want to vote can use this location.
— Maricopa County Recorder’s Office (@RecordersOffice) November 8, 2022
“Check in stations are now working at Burton Barr Library,” the office wrote. “Voters who want to vote can use this location.”
Breitbart news reached out to the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office for a precise figure regarding the polling places affected.
“Technical staff are working to resolve an issue with tabulators and investigating the cause,” Special Assistant to the County Recorder Josh Heywood told Breitbart News.
“Voters have a number of options to choose from if the Vote Center is experiencing a problem with a precinct tabulator,” he added.
“People can still check in and then vote their ballot at the voting booth. Once complete, they can insert their ballot in the secure slot on the ballot box where it will be counted at the Tabulation and Election Center,” said Heywood.
During the primary races in August, election-day issues unfolded in Arizona’s Pinal County. Ward and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel put out a statement noting their “poll observer program documented and reported multiple failures by Pinal County’s Elections Administrator, including 63,000 mail-in ballots delivered to the wrong voters and multiple Republican-heavy precinct locations running out of ballots.”
Pinal County Elections Director David Frisk was subsequently removed from his post.
