Voting snag in Maricopa County slows Arizona count

A printing malfunction affecting about a fourth of the polling stations in Arizona’s most populous county came to election officials’ attention on Tuesday. It prompted Republicans, including governor candidate Kari Lake and former President Donald Trump, to claim that Democrats were trying to subvert Republican votes. In light of the voting trouble, Republicans asked a judge to keep the polls open later, but that request was denied. According to Arizona law, anyone still in line when the polls close can still vote.

What was the problem? Certain printers were inking selections too lightly on the ballots, causing automated tabulation machines to reject them. That required election officials to change the settings on some of the printers. Before they changed the settings, some voters were forced to wait and use other machines or were told they could leave their ballots in a drop box. Officials plan to count those votes Wednesday. County recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, promised to tabulate every legal vote. Eddie Perez, an election technology specialist with OSET Institute, said election officials have a variety of tools, including a different type of scanner, for accurately reading the lighter ink marks.

Dig deeper: Read WORLD’s Arizona Election Guide for the 2022 midterm elections in the state.