Maricopa County’s vote tabulators were intermittently malfunctioning on Election Day, prompting voter concern that ballots won’t be counted properly or at all.
The problem lasted well into the afternoon, around 8 hours, until the county said it believed it had found the cause of these mass failure: faulty printer settings. The county said it did test-run the machines ahead of the election. They assured voters that they would send technicians to the vote centers to fix the printer settings.
BREAKING: Maricopa County says that they have “identified the solution” for tabulator issues.
“County technicians have changed the printer settings, which seems to have resolved this issue.” pic.twitter.com/QvA3UCrEqQ
As of noon on Election Day, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates reported to KTAR that 60 vote centers were hit with tabulator and printer problems out of the 223 centers across the county. Each vote center has two tabulators.
Moments ago: @GaydosAndChad spoke to Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates and @GaydosKTAR had a back and forth with him about some of the tabulation machines not working properly. pic.twitter.com/WcYXn3cpQj
The elections department advised voters to cast their ballots into a slot on the machine below the tabulator, where it would be stored until it could be counted manually at a later time.
— Maricopa County Elections Department (@MaricopaVote) November 8, 2022
We collected some testimonies of voters who say they experienced these malfunctioning tabulators. This is not an all-inclusive list, and results are quickly changing:
Anthem:
7:30 am – long lines caused by tabulators malfunctioning.
7:30 am – Cave Creek Town Hall tabulators were reportedly rejecting ballots.
8:30 am – Black Mountain Baptist Church and Cave Creek Town Hall locations were turning away voters.
9 am – Laestadian Lutheran Church reported that they had no equipment issues.
9:30 am – Poll workers informed voters that the tabulator issue had to do with how ballots are printed, and that only 1 in 5 ballots were accepted earlier in the day.
Gilbert:
8 am – Valor Christian Center voter said one machine wouldn’t accept ballots.
9:30 am – Trilogy Power Ranchexperienced no problems.
Goodyear:
8 am – Compass Church voter reported that her location had printing issues, prompting her to leave without her ballot scanned.
Mesa:
9 am – Love of Christ Lutheran Church voter and Turning Point Action activist reported that only 1 in 15 ballots were read by the tabulators. One woman reportedly waited two hours until her ballot was read properly, while the husband had to spoil his ballot after seven failed attempts.
10:15 am – Mesa Court House reported no issues, per our sources.
Peoria
2 pm – Journey Church voters reported their machines down.
2 pm – Arrowhead Country Club voters reported their machines down.
Phoenix
6 am – Burton Barr Librarybecame a ballot drop off site due to tabulation machine issues. An hour later, their check-in stations became operational.
Scottsdale
9:30 am – Unspecified location, voter had to run ballot through tabulator five times before it was read.
10:40 am – North Scottsdale United Methodist Church machines down, some left without votes counted while there.
Surprise
8 am – Asante Library voter reported their machines rejecting 90 percent of ballots.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer reported at 7:30 am Tuesday morning that over 23,000 people voted in person.
Voters casting ballots at polling places experiencing tabulator issues have three options: stay to wait out the tabulators, drop their ballot in the tabulator slot for manual processing, or go to a nearby vote center.
If you’re at a polling place experiencing an issue with a tabulator, you have three options & your vote will be counted in each. 1) stay where you are and wait for tabulator to come online 2) drop your ballot in the secure slot (door 3) on tabulator 3) go to a nearby vote center
Secretary of State and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs reassured voters that ballots deposited in drop boxes would be tabulated manually.
Maricopa Voters: Any ballots deposited in the secure ballot box will be tabulated at central count under the observation of political parties. All eligible ballots will be tabulated. Find a vote center near you at https://t.co/hMClh8UaNW! https://t.co/nPInqxmi35pic.twitter.com/6miQqyfdnU
— Stephen Richer—Maricopa Cnty Recorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) November 8, 2022
Ahead of Election Day, the Department of Justice (DOJ) deployed its Civil Rights Division forces to monitor polling places in Maricopa, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, and Yavapai counties on Tuesday to ensure no voting rights were violated.
Arizona wasn’t the only state to experience issues with voting machines. Voters in Texas, such as Bell County, reported that the machines wouldn’t allow people to vote at all.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs said she would remove the shipping containers closing up the border wall gaps if elected. Governor Doug Ducey closed the border gaps using shipping containers topped with razor wire in August; he refused the Biden administration’s demand last month that he remove them.
In an interview with KYMA, Hobbs called Ducey’s shipping containers nothing more than a “political stunt.” She insinuated that Ducey’s motive wasn’t so much to secure the border wall as to instigate a legal fight with the Biden administration. Hobbs indicated that the Biden administration had the border situation under control.
“We need to work with the federal government to implement solutions that are right for Arizonans,” said Hobbs.
Democratic nominee Katie Hobbs said she would remove the containers from the gaps to avoid a potential lawsuit as the containers were placed on federal land.
"These kinds of things are political stunts that aren't really solving issues at the border," Hobbs said. pic.twitter.com/RsE5d5x7So
The shipping containers took 11 days and about $6 million to install. For well over a year in office, the Biden administration refused to add to the border wall. They spent an estimated $3 million every day to not complete the border wall under contracts set by former President Donald Trump, or around $2 billion in total.
Yet, Hobbs claimed in an NBC interview a little over a week ago that Arizonans were “tired of inaction at the border.” Hobbs implied that she would largely pass the border crisis buck onto the federal government.
“[T]his is largely a federal issue,” said Hobbs.
Arizonans are tired of the inaction at the border, and more importantly, they’re tired of Washington using the border as a political football. Here's what I'll get done: pic.twitter.com/8zmRb8YLWV
Unlike Hobbs, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake told KYMA that she would ignore the Biden administration’s request to remove the shipping containers.
Lake’s campaign later remarked that Hobbs wanted no border wall at all.
Any barrier is preferable to no border.@katiehobbs knows this. She just doesn't care.
She is an open borders activist.
Hobbs wants to make the rest of the world's problems our own.@KariLake will secure our border & protect Arizona. https://t.co/vFTnZDICyX
Hobbs’ endorsements from law enforcement included a prominent sheriff who denied the existence of the border crisis. Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway rejected Arizona National Guard assistance for his people last April. Hobbs said that Hathaway’s support as a border sheriff reflected her border policy.
Securing the border means stopping crime at the border. That’s something we can all agree on. My border plan is endorsed by 2 border sheriffs because my focus is keeping communities safe & taking real action on border security – not playing politics w/ this issue like my opponent pic.twitter.com/Xywe7m213Q
Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake challenged Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs to push back on a mainstream media warning of election hacking.
On Monday, the day before Election Day, Politico issued an article warning that hackers impose “real risks” to election equipment such as voting machines. They prefaced their warning with the disclosure that claims of voting machine hacks from the 2020 presidential election were invalid.
.@katiehobbs as Secretary of State it is your job to denounce @politico for their election denying conspiracy theories.
The Politico article stated that there were six potential threats to elections, five of which were related to cybersecurity: misinformation/disinformation, election office and campaign website crashers, campaign social media hijackers, voter registration database hackers, voter harassers, and wireless modem hackers.
Only that last potential threat, the wireless modem hackers, could compromise election results by tampering with unofficial vote data, voting machine processing, or computer tallying. Politico assured readers that this type of cyberattack would be less likely to occur because it’s more difficult and time-consuming. Discovery of this type of cyberattack would only occur through paper ballot analysis and post-election audits.
Tensions over Hobbs’ role overseeing the election as secretary of state in a highly contested race have grown over the last few weeks. Last Tuesday, Lake hired one of former President Donald Trump’s lawyers from the 2020 election lawsuits.
As TIME reported, two former secretaries of state advised that Hobbs should grant election oversight to other officials. However, Hobbs’ office told TIME that she wouldn’t do so.
Richard Mahoney, a Democrat, suggested that Attorney General Mark Brnovich or Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer assist Hobbs.
“I think it would be wise if the secretary of state seconded responsibility for ministerial oversight to either the attorney general or the Maricopa County recorder,” said Mahoney.
Ken Bennett, a Republican, suggested others within her office assume control.
“She should recuse herself from the official acts that she would normally perform as secretary and let a deputy secretary or somebody else take care of those,” said Bennett.
FACT: The 2020 election was the safest and most secure election in Arizona’s history.
FACT: Kari Lake is a dangerous lying conspiracy theorist who has no business being governor. https://t.co/T3xGRQzHXL
On Tuesday, the Arizona District Court issued a temporary restraining order against drop box monitors with Clean Elections USA. The order lasts through Election Day for fourteen days.
The court consolidated two cases against the drop box monitors: League of Women Voters of Arizona v. Lions of Liberty, et al and Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, et al v. Clean Elections USA et al.
Judge Michel Liburdi ordered Clean Elections USA to refrain from engaging in or training, organizing, or directing others to monitor drop boxes. They may not enter within 75 feet of a ballot drop box or entrance to a building where a drop box is located, or follow individuals delivering ballots to a drop box outside that 75-foot margin. They may also not speak first to individuals dropping off ballots within 75 feet of a drop box. They may also not openly carry firearms within 250 feet of a ballot drop box, but may conceal carry.
Liburdi also ordered Clean Elections USA and its founder, Melody Jennings, to post the following on the organization website and her Truth Social account:
“It is not always illegal to deposit multiple ballots in a ballot drop box. It is legal to deposit the ballot of a family member, household member, or person for whom you are the caregiver. Here are the rules for ballot drop boxes by which I ask you to abide…”
Followed by a copy of state law concerning voter fraud or a link to the law, Jennings complied. Although on Wednesday, Jennings responded to Republican secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem that she and others would continue to watch drop boxes “lawfully and peacefully” as he requested.
In an interview with controversial pundit Steve Bannon, Jennings described the restraining order as an “infraction of the First Amendment.” Jennings said she would be relying on eyewitnesses to file affidavits if they see suspicious activity.
One of the major firms representing the plaintiffs in the cases was the Elias Law Group: Russiagate lawyer Marc Elias’ firm. The Department of Justice (DOJ) also joined the case on Halloween, which was Monday.
As required by federal court order, Clean Elections USA founder Melody Jennings posted on Truth Social that there are multiple reasons why Arizona voters can legally return more than one ballot to a drop box after her group baselessly accused individuals of being "ballot mules." pic.twitter.com/iacPDyNg8l
The man allegedly behind the burglary of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs’ campaign office is an illegal immigrant sought by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Sources informed the Arizona Daily Independent this week that the fugitive, a 36-year-old Portuguese citizen named Daniel Mota Dos Reis, failed to maintain his immigration status through a student visa. Reis earned his MBA from Grand Canyon University (GCU) last December. According to ICE records, Reis entered the country on a student visa in 2018, when he started at GCU.
As AZ Free News reported last week, Hobbs alleged that Reis was prompted to burglarize her campaign office due to rhetoric from her opponent, Kari Lake. Reis likely wasn’t motivated by the gubernatorial race or politics at all.
Unfortunately, Katie and so many other elected officials are victims of threats and intimidation tactics like this. Make no mistake — this is a direct result of Kari Lake and fringe Republicans spreading lies and hate and inciting violence — and it is despicable. https://t.co/NzUkHGHx3W
Rather, the timeline of events offered by Reis’ social media accounts indicates that he was motivated by financial distress. Reis worked as an accountant for four years until March, when it appears that he either left or lost his job. At that point, Reis began searching for other job opportunities abroad. It is unclear whether his immigration status was a factor in his job status.
In April, Reis posted to social media that it was difficult to obtain work authorization papers.
“Work authorizations and work-related paperwork can be a huge issue in the US,” stated Reis. “I see friends deeply impacted by these policies on a daily basis.”
Police relayed that Reis was homeless at the time of his arrest for several burglaries, including that of Hobbs’ campaign office.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
