By Staff Reporter |
Thousands of early ballots for Maricopa County elections were mailed six days prematurely but are still valid to vote.
Runbeck Election Services, the county’s longtime vendor based in Phoenix, mistakenly mailed 3,126 early ballots on October 1, six days before the proper mailing date of October 7.
Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap issued a press release on Sunday advising voters that they may cast their votes using these ballots. Heap disclosed that he received the go-ahead from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
The correct ballots were mailed to the correct voters and are therefore valid, according to Heap — just about a week too early.
“Upon consultation with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, it was determined that the ballots remain valid and do not need to be voided or reissued,” said Heap’s office. “Voters may complete and return them normally. Any ballots received before early voting begins will remain unopened and securely stored until processing begins.”
Runbeck Election Services issued their own statement also advising the public that the ballots were correct and valid to cast a vote, just mailed out too early.
The company said it has already reviewed the release of the affected ballots at their facility and made verification steps for staged mail — presorted and prepared pallets of mail awaiting release to USPS — to prevent premature mailing in the future.
“The early delivery was a matter of timing in the release of staged mail to the USPS and did not involve the validity or production of the [Vote-by-Mail envelope mailers produced for individual voters] packets,” said Runbeck.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has contracted with Runbeck Election Services for more than 30 years. It was about 20 years ago that the company began processing return envelopes for the county.
Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ-08) questioned Runbeck Election Services’ fitness for the job.
“This isn’t their first ‘mistake.’ One error is incompetence. A pattern is a system,” said Hamadeh. “Runbeck touches tens of millions of ballots, and Maricopa inexplicably keeps handing them the keys.”
Last summer, Hamadeh asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate Runbeck Election Services regarding claims that it breached protocols during the 2024 general election.
As of this report, the DOJ is currently investigating those claims.
In the post-2020 world of elections, news of the premature mailing of early ballots made it within the day all the way to the highest office in the nation.
President Donald Trump commented on the premature ballot mailing with criticism, claiming county officials weren’t being honest about what occurred and accusing them of conspiracy and fraud.
“Maricopa sent out thousands of ballots illegally and they got caught and now they’re saying it was an error,” said Trump. “Maricopa is a very, very dishonest county.”
Kari Lake, senior advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media whose nomination for the Jamaica ambassadorship has stalled, also slammed Maricopa County for the premature mailing.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
