Election officials in Maricopa County Arizona are still counting votes almost a week after Election Day, which took place on November 8, and the race for governor remains too close to call.
On Election Day, 25 percent of vote tabulation machines in the county were not working. County officials claim the problem was caused by a "printer setting issue." The issue wasn't resolved for hours after polls opened and voting hours were not extended by a judge, despite an official request from the campaign of Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
Here is a message from Chairman Bill Gates and Recorder Stephen Richer with an update for @maricopacounty voters on Elections Day. pic.twitter.com/OkQczCklGb
— Maricopa County Elections Department (@MaricopaVote) November 8, 2022
BREAKING: Maricopa County says that they have “identified the solution” for tabulator issues.
— Cameron Arcand (@cameron_arcand) November 8, 2022
“County technicians have changed the printer settings, which seems to have resolved this issue.” pic.twitter.com/QvA3UCrEqQ
After crunching the numbers, the Republican Party of Arizona is crying foul and accusing the county of disenfranchising GOP voters.
"The Republican Party of Arizona has partnered with Big Data Polling to conduct exit polling on Arizona voters following the 2022 Midterms General Election. Data from November 1st, 2022, through November 8th, 2022, indicates that Republican voters were disproportionately and negatively impacted while voting in Arizona’s GOP strongholds," the Republican Party of Arizona released in a statement over the weekend. "Exit polling shows that a low of 10 percent to a high of 17 percent of total turnout is Election Day Drop Offs. To be clear, that is defined as a voter who physically delivered their mail-in ballot to a polling station on Election Day. While historic, the publicly reported information showing a 13% drop-off rate correlates with our exit poll data."
"Of those who reported problems casting a ballot on Election Day, 28% live and vote in the 1st Congressional District (REP), 14% in the 4th Congressional District (DEM), 30% in the 5th Congressional District (REP), 14% in the 6th Congressional District (DEM) and 13% in the 8th Congressional District (REP)," the statement continues. "It was no secret that Republicans intended to vote on Election Day. The RPAZ and others publicly urged Maricopa County to prepare for a historic day of turnout. Sadly, that fell on deaf ears. The officials should have known better after an unprecedented number of Election Day voters during the Primary Election in August. While Democrats are more likely to vote by mail and thus were disproportionately less likely to be harmed by problems with tabulators and printers that arose on Election Day."
#BREAKING
— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) November 13, 2022
Once again AZ elections are the laughingstock of America.
Voter suppression reared its ugly head in Arizona at the hands of Maricopa County.
Our data proves so ft. @Peoples_Pundit & @kelliwardaz pic.twitter.com/CNQ0V4WNvU
Final vote tallies are expected sometime this week.