By Matthew Holloway |
In a series of posts to ‘X,’ Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer reported via his personal account that his office has received the first batches of ballots under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA ). According to Richer, “The 2024 General Election is officially underway here in Maricopa County!”
In full he wrote, “We’ve already received back 200 Uniform and Overseas ballots. The 2024 General Election is officially underway here in Maricopa County!”
Richer also reported via X that the Recorder’s Office now has “three remote recording kiosks up and running,” sharing the locations as the Sun City Library, the Southeast Regional Library in Gilbert, and the Georgia T. Lord Library in Goodyear.
He followed up with the Maricopa County Active Voter Registration Totals as of Monday totaling 2.512 million registered voters: 883,494 Republicans, 868,825 Independents, 719,324 Democrats, 19,5226 No Labels Party, 18,715 Libertarians and 2,120 Green Party.
According to a Monday press release from Maricopa County Elections:
- Maricopa County Elections is expecting a total turnout of 2.1 million voters.
- It is expected that half of voters will do so by voting early by mail and the other half will vote early in-person, drop off an early ballot, or cast their ballot in-person on Election Day.
- Approximately 315,000-420,000 voters are expected to visit a Vote Center on Election Day.
- 246 Vote Centers will be opened, and more than 3,000 election workers will be hired to service voters.
On the 2024 ballot, voters will decide 144 elected offices, 45 judges up for retention, and 76 ballot measures of which 13 are statewide propositions.
Jennifer Liewer, Deputy Elections Director for Communications, advised, “With a two-page ballot, containing contests on the front and back of both pages, it is more important than ever for voters to do their research ahead of time. Voters may also want to make a plan to either vote early by receiving a ballot in the mail or vote early in-person at a Vote Center to avoid longer than normal lines on Election Day.”
Since his ouster as Recorder, Richer has touted his recent lengthy interview with TIME in which he repeated his claims that “the 2020 election wasn’t stolen,” calling this view “a documented fact,” despite the hotly disputed status of the claim at the highest levels of the GOP. The outgoing County Recorder was defeated in the Republican Primary by Arizona State Rep. Justin Heap who ran on a platform to “Restore Voter Confidence.”
During a forum presented by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, previously reported by AZ Free News, Heap made serious accusation against Richer that election rules were not followed and vocally defended Arizonans’ right to be skeptical about election results. He said that legal safeguards weren’t followed and that the signature verification process for mail-in ballots was “inadequate.”
“I do not trust the system as it is currently being operated,” Heap added.
Matthew Holloway is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
