A number of voting machines were malfunctioning in Maricopa County, Arizona, as voters headed to the polls Tuesday for the 2022 midterm elections.
Arizona Republican Party chairwoman Kelli Ward first reported that issues were occurring at several polling places in Maricopa County. Local media confirmed shortly afterward that at least one tabulation machine was having an issue; later in the morning, local outlets and county officials reported that as many as one in five polling places were having issues.
“BIG problems with @MaricopaVote Tabulator ‘malfunctions’ at at least 6 places,” Ward tweeted early Tuesday morning. “DO NOT PUT YOUR BALLOT IN ‘BOX 3’ TO BE ‘TABULATED DOWNTOWN.’ Maricopa will not be turning on the downtown tabulators today. Find your next nearest polling place here,” she added, linking to Maricopa County’s elections website.
In a separate tweet later, Ward claimed that as many as 15 locations in Maricopa County were experiencing “tabulator malfunctions.”
Turning Point USA’s Tyler Bowyer tweeted video from a polling place in Anthem, Arizona. A poll worker explained to voters in line that one of the location’s two vote tabulators was misreading about 25% of the votes tabulated.
Long lines in Anthem, Arizona with Poll Workers explaining that the @maricopacounty machines are not working.
Do not get out of line! pic.twitter.com/lInh8KnTz3
— Tyler Bowyer 🇺🇸 (@tylerbowyer) November 8, 2022
The Arizona Republic reported at least one tabulator malfunction at around 6:30 a.m. local time Tuesday morning. The Burton Barr Library in Phoenix accepted only drop-off mail ballots until the issue was resolved around 7:30 a.m. County officials told the outlet that the password to access the tabulation machine had been entered too many times, activating security protocols that locked the machine.
The paper reported at around 8:30 a.m. local time that Maricopa County was experiencing issues with the tabulation machines at approximately 10% of the 223 voting locations in the county. County elections department spokeswoman Megan Gilbertson told the Arizona Republic that it was “important for voters to talk to the poll workers on site” to get their vote cast successfully.
NewsNation southern border correspondent Ali Bradley reported, “AZ: Maricopa Co Recorder @stephen_richer confirms approximately 10 tabulation machines had issues across the county. He says that means the vote is centrally tabulated not tabulated at that location. He says voters can also choose a different location—There are 223 in the county.”
Fox 10 Phoenix reported late Tuesday morning that around one in every five voting machines were experiencing some sort of malfunction. Election officials said these problems should not affect wait times; the longest waits in the county are between 30-40 minutes, Fox 10 reported. In the meantime, voters have three options:
Stay at the polling place and wait for the tabulation machine to come back on.
Leave their ballot in the drop box attached to the voting machine, “box 3,” to be counted at a central location Tuesday night.
“spoil” the ballot at the current polling place, and go to one with a working machine.
Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake tweeted out guidance to voters, urging them to follow the suggestions of county officials. Both Lake and Senate candidate Blake Masters urged their supporters to stay in line and wait until their vote is counted.
