Election Alert: Votes Being Collected and Moved to Fortified Location for Counting
Election Day had barely begun Tuesday when troubles befell polling places in Arizona’s Maricopa County, a region that already has a bad reputation when it comes to voting.
Before the morning’s voting was even fairly underway, voters began posting alerts on social media that there are problems at their polling places.
Conservative commentator Benny Johnson, for one, found a tweet by a voter in Maricopa County who was shocked to find that scanning machines were not working there.
“So it begins,” the voter retweeted by Johnson reported. “We went to vote in Chandler at the Catholic church on Cooper Rd. Scanning machine won’t scan ballots. A very few it would scan. So, you have to put your ballot in the machine when the lady unlocks it. She says it will be taken ‘downtown’ to be scanned there.”
“This is why we have no confidence on the process,” the voter concluded.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 8, 2022
Arizona GOP Chairwoman Dr. Kelli Ward also alerted voters in Maricopa County that things were not going smoothly.
“Do not out your ballot in ‘door 3.’ Maricopa stated at a recent press conference that they will NOT be tabulating ballots downtown today. Wait for the on-site tabulator to work and feed your ballot in yourself,” Ward tweeted.
Do not out your ballot in “door 3.” Maricopa stated at a recent press conference that they will NOT be tabulating ballots downtown today. Wait for the on-site tabulator to work and feed your ballot in yourself. https://t.co/PeQ3EA9HoG
— Dr. Kelli Ward 🇺🇸 (@kelliwardaz) November 8, 2022
“Door 3” referred to a slot at the bottom of the vote tabulator.
It was so bad that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office moved to fortify the main tabulation center in downtown Phoenix to make sure the system was secured, Washington Post reporter Yvonne Wingett Sanchez said on Twitter.
She said deputies were even going to deploy drones to fly around the building to keep an eye on things.
“Dozens of sheriff’s deputies will be stationed at Maricopa County’s tabulation center in downtown Phoenix to ‘protect everyone and every vote in that building,’ Sheriff Paul Penzone said. Officials are also expected to deploy technology, including drones, to monitor the building,” Sanchez tweeted.
Dozens of sheriff’s deputies will be stationed at Maricopa County’s tabulation center in downtown Phoenix to “protect everyone and every vote in that building,” Sheriff Paul Penzone said. Officials are also expected to deploy technology, including drones, to monitor the building. https://t.co/grf8dO7Tu6
— YvonneWingettSanchez 🏜 (@yvonnewingett) November 8, 2022
According to KSAZ-TV, up to 20 percent of Maricopa County polling locations were reporting voting issues Tuesday morning.
“We’ve had a few tabulator issues at a couple locations where the tabulator isn’t immediately taking the ballot,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer said. “Instead it can either be Central count tabulated here, or if that issue can be addressed there, then it can be fed into the tabulator — or voters can go to any of the other 221 voting locations.”
Over 23,000 people have already checked in in person and successfully voted.
We have tabulator issues at a few locations, but the backup plan allows those votes to still be tabulated. https://t.co/sn3xKGBgvD
— Stephen Richer—Maricopa Cnty Recorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) November 8, 2022
Fears about the integrity of Arizona’s election have been palpable this year.
The worries spurred a group of citizens to put a watch on the ballot drop-off boxes in Maricopa. But the groups were opposed by Democrat groups, who claimed that the watchers were “intimidating” voters.
The monitoring was motivated by claims that “mules” subverted the 2020 election by stuffing thousands of illegal votes in drop-off boxes.
No evidence of intimidation was found, and one judge ruled that the watchers had a right to set up their monitoring efforts.
Sadly, the issues Tuesday have added fuel to concerns about Maricopa County elections.
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