Maricopa County, Arizona, saw voting irregularities in 2022, and county officials have promised to look into the matter.
Ruth McGregor, a former justice on the Arizona Supreme Court, has offered to oversee the “independent” endeavor, according to a statement issued by county authorities. McGregor participated in an inquiry into prisoner safety in 2019 after serving on the Arizona Supreme Court from 1998 to 2009.
According to a statement released by supervisors Bill Gates and Clint Hickman, McGregor had pledged to send in “outside specialists to figure out why the printers that read votes properly in the August Primary had difficulties reading some ballots despite utilizing the identical settings in the November General.” Voters in the United States are looking for more.
After the 2020 presidential election, Maricopa County, Arizona, the state’s most populous county and home to Phoenix, became a focal point for questions over the reliability of the voter rolls. On November 8th, 2018, the county was again in the news because tabulators at around 70 of 223 polling places had problems reading votes. The Associated Press claimed that the issues emerged because printers did not give “timing markings” (a warning for scanners) that were sufficiently black.
After Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich launched an inquiry into printer issues in November, Maricopa County said that impacted voters were offered alternate voting methods and that no one was prevented from casting a ballot due to the issue. Nonetheless, several would-be candidates have voiced reservations.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake filed a lawsuit contesting the election results after she lost to Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs by a margin of around 17,000 votes in November. According to Lake, “hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots marred the election in Maricopa County,” and the county’s leaders tried to suppress the vote on purpose. Lake plans to challenge the court’s decision to dismiss the claim since he has evidence that the defective ballot printers were intentional.
Attorney General candidate and Republican in Arizona Abe Hamadeh is contesting his November loss. He said on Twitter last Friday, “What else? Maricopa County, Pinal County.” A rationale is necessary for a democratic government.
Winners of the recent midterm elections, including Hobbs, were sworn into office this week.