Many voting machines in Maricopa County, Arizona, were broken as people went to the polls on Tuesday, November 4, 2022, to cast ballots in the midterm elections.
Kelli Ward, chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, was the first to notice problems at many polling locations in Maricopa County. Shortly after, local media verified that at least one tabulation equipment was malfunctioning; later that morning, local press and county officials indicated that as many as one in five voting booths were experiencing problems.
Ward tweeted early on Tuesday that there were “BIG difficulties with @MaricopaVote Tabulator’malfunctions’ at least six spots.” If you want your ballot counted downtown, keep it in box 3. The tabulators in downtown Maricopa will remain dark today. In addition, she provided a link to the Maricopa County elections website, where voters could locate voting locations.
Ward subsequently tweeted that up to 15 polling places in Maricopa County had “tabulator problems.”
Tyler Bowyer of Turning Point USA posted a video tweet from an Anthem, Arizona, voting station. One of the two vote tabulators at this location was misreading around 25% of the votes tallied, and a poll worker informed the waiting voters of this issue.
According to a report from the Arizona Republic published on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. local time, at least one tabulator had an error. Once the problem is fixed by about 7:30 a.m., postal ballots may be dropped off at the Burton Barr Library in Phoenix. The tabulation machine’s password was input too many times, triggering security processes, according to county authorities, who spoke to the media source.
At about 8:30 a.m. local time, the publication claimed that tabulation devices in about 10% of Maricopa County’s 223 polling places were malfunctioning. The Arizona Republic quotes Megan Gilbertson, a spokesperson for the county elections department, as saying that “voters must communicate to the poll workers on site.”
Arizona: Maricopa County Recorder @stephen richer says that ten tabulation machines encountered difficulties across the county,” Ali Bradley of NewsNation’s southern border bureau said. According to him, that indicates the votes are counted elsewhere and not locally. Voters, he continues, “have a choice of 223 polling places around the county.”
Late Tuesday morning, Fox 10 Phoenix reported that over 20% of polling machines were malfunctioning. Fox 10 noted that even with these issues, the most excellent wait times in the county are just 30-40 minutes. Voters currently have a choice between three alternatives:
Wait for the tabulation machine to turn back on at the polling station.
Vote by dropping it off at the designated site on Tuesday evening in the “box 3” drop box attached to the polling machine.
Do not cast your vote at the current polling location; instead, “spoil” it by moving to a different place where voting machines are functioning.
In a tweet, Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake advised voters to heed the advice of county leaders. Senatorial candidates Blake Masters and Lake urged their supporters to stand in line until their ballots were tallied.