Full press conference with Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer offering an update on the status of ballot tabulation and processing. They then take questions from the press.
Chairman Gates takes umbrage at certain questions referencing public statements made to the media that accuse the County of deliberately “slow-going” and “foot dragging” and “picking and choosing” in the ballot count process. He and Recorder Richer both cite Arizona law allowing early mail-in ballots to be brought to precincts for drop-off right up until 7 pm on election night as the main reason for the backlog in the post-election count process. Chairman Gates and Recorder Richer note that this election set a new record for the number of early ballots dropped off on Election Day in Maricopa County — 290,000 — an increase of 70% over the 2020 elections.
Communications Director Fields Mosley conducts the press conference on behalf of Maricopa County. During the Q&A with the press, at around 28:00, Communications Director for the Elections Department Meghan Gilbert joins in answering some of the ballot-related questions.