The Maricopa County Elections Command Center held another press conference this afternoon, Veterans Day, Friday, November 11, 2022.
Communications Director Fields Mosley leads the meeting, with Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates giving an update on where the ballot count stands. He says they will have an updated count to be announced “during the eight’o’clock hour” this evening. Because the number of ballots cast and tabulated on election day is vastly outnumbered by the number of early ballots brought in on Election Day — 17,000 vs. 290,000 — the total count will take several days.
Chairman Gates points out that this protracted ballot-counting process is owing to the fact that Arizona law differs from other states in that, (a), early (mail in) ballots can be dropped off as late as 7:00 pm on Election Day, triggering a complex verification process that is mandated by the Arizona legislature, and, (b), defects (such as signature and other discrepancies) can be cured by the voter up to five business days after Election Day. Together, this combination of ballot concessions pushes the completion date for vote processing one full week (or longer) after Election Day.
Gates also points out that while all of this is frustrating to those who are anxious to know “who won”, it speaks to the accuracy and integrity of the process that is focused on counting every single eligible vote that was cast, and is a testament to the hard work and diligence of the election staff who will be working straight through this Veterans Day weekend to get everything done. He adds that this is why the delay is nothing unusual in Arizona elections or in Maricopa County. As he has reiterated multiple times, the current ballot-counting process is mandated by Arizona law.
(Note regarding the video embedded below. It is from CBS News. This is because the video uploaded to Maricopa County’s YouTube channel is very poor quality, at least as of press time for this post.)
Update on Maricopa County video of this press conference: The County folks did upload a separate video that is much better quality than their first one. So I am including that one here along with the one above from CBS News since it is the “official” Maricopa County recording of the meeting this afternoon.