Maricopa County Says Tabulator Issues Did Not Disenfranchise Midterm Voters
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Maricopa County said Sunday the tabulator malfunctions that affected roughly 20 percent of its voting centers on Election Day did not ultimately compromise the freeness or fairness of the midterm elections in Arizona.
While failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake insists that the voting machine issues disenfranchised voters and cost her a victory against Democrat Katie Hobbs, a report conducted by the county concluded that the voting process was not undermined.
“While Maricopa County’s printer issue in 2022 impacted more Vote Centers than normal, every voter was afforded the ability to legally and securely cast their ballot,” the report reads.
The election integrity unit of the Arizona attorney general’s office requested a review of the complications that happened on November 8 ahead of the election certification on December 5. Lake was projected to win in the closing days of the race but ultimately lost to Hobbs, who presided over the election as secretary of state.
On November 8, 31 percent of polling places in the county experienced printing problems that caused some ballots to be printed in a way that prevented some of the precinct-based tabulators from reading them. Later in the day, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office announced that it had fixed the problem by changing the printer settings and promised that every legal vote would be tabulated.
As printer issues were reported that morning, Maricopa County defaulted to its alternative manual voting method at affected polling locations. The county claimed it clearly communicated to the public through news releases on social media that voters could place completed ballots into the secure ballot box below the tabulator known as “Door 3.” Those ballots were then sent to the central counting facility for tabulation, a process “so common that every Arizona county either uses it as their only method of counting Election Day ballots or as a backup plan like Maricopa County.”
The report suggested that political commentators and figures spread misinformation about the viability of the “Door 3” option and stifled voting as a result.
“The secure Door 3 option has been a decades-long practice in Maricopa County. Despite this being a legal, secure, and reliable voting option, many high profile and influential individuals instructed voters to not deposit their ballots in Door 3,” the report said. As a result, some residents refused to vote, according to the report.
In a letter attached to the report, Republican Tom Liddy, head of Maricopa County’s civil division, argued that the contingency plan did not violate the state constitution provisions as “all voters were still provided reasonable, lawful options for voting.”
Arizona election statutes do not require perfection but only uniformity in election administration, Liddy contended, a law which the tabulator glitches, while inconvenient and confusing, did not violate. Less than 1 percent of ballots cast in the 2022 general election were affected by these printer issues, the GOP official added.
Lake, who has not yet conceded to Hobbs, sued Maricopa County election officials over the weekend, alleging that election laws were broken. Since the race was declared for Hobbs, the former TV personality has suggested the election was stolen from her due to fraud or malfeasance by Maricopa County. The message is in keeping with her insistence that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from President Trump. Her embrace of “stop the steal” rhetoric attracted Trump’s endorsement and helped her gain momentum in the GOP primary.
Lake tweeted Sunday: “Arizonans have no Faith & Trust in our Elections. Our Election Officials are incompetent (…or worse) They have failed us.” The GOP firebrand has lobbied for Maricopa County to delay certification of the 2022 election and for an investigation into the tabulator mishaps on Election Day.
“I am focused like a laser beam focus on Arizona & election integrity. We have to take on this fight… We know we WON this election & we are going to do everything in our power to make sure that every single Arizonan’s vote that was disenfranchised is counted,” Lake said during an appearance on Real America’s Voice Friday.
