Voters’ videos have gone viral that claim Maricopa County, Arizona, election machines for ballots are “not working.” You can see some of the voters’ videos later in this article.
Maricopa County elections officials later confirmed in a video statement that the problem was real.
The issue burst forth as Arizonans go to to the midterm 2022 polls in a hotly contested governor’s race.
Bill Gates, chairman of the county board of supervisors, said in the video statement that there is an “issue” with tabulators in 20% of voting locations on November 8, 2022.
“Our tabulators, we have about 20% of the locations out there where there’s an issue with the tabulator, where some of the ballots after people voted, they try and run them through tabulator. And they’re not going through,” he said.
“We’re trying to fix the problem as quickly as possible; we also have a redundancy in place,” said Gates, noting that if people can’t put their ballot in a tabulator, they can put it in a secure box. Ballots at the polls are already “signature verified,” so they will be taken to “central count to tabulate them,” Gates said.
Heavy also contacted the Maricopa County Elections Department by phone and email for comment on the videos as well as more details about any broken machines.
“Technical staff are working to resolve an issue with tabulators and investigating the cause,” Amy Bolton, Maricopa County’s elections spokesperson, told Heavy. “Voters have a number of options to choose from if the Vote Center is experiencing a problem with a precinct tabulator. People can still check in and then vote their ballot at the voting booth. Once complete, they can insert their ballot in the secure slot on the ballot box where it will be counted at the Tabulation and Election Center.”
You can watch several videos later in this story relating to Maricopa County and the 2022 midterm election.
Here’s what you need to know:
‘It Will All Get Counted,’ the Poll Worker Insisted
🚨 Maricopa Meltdown 🚨
“The machines aren’t working?”
“No, NOTHING IS WORKING”
One video has had more than 300,000 views on Twitter. In it, a man appears to be at a polling place.
“So I put my ballot in and it got misread, but then what was happening?” He asked a poll worker.
“Put it in there, and tonight a Republican and a Democrat will sit and go through all of the misread ballots all over the county and count them and it will get counted,” the woman responded.
Advice for Voters: If a tabulator is not working at a site, you can still vote! You have the option to cast your ballot and place it into the secure ballot box. The poll workers on site at the voting location are best equipped to help you ensure your ballot cast.
“But both machines aren’t working?” the man asked.
“No nothing’s working for the last half hour. Nothing,” the poll worker said.
“Thank you,” said the man.
Election officials noted in the video statement that central count tabulation is what the majority of Arizona counties do on election day all of the time. They said Maricopa County has 223 vote centers.
‘This Is Awful,’ a Voter Declared in a Second Video
BREAKING: Now issues reported with machines in Wickenburg, AZ, northwest Maricopa.
Worker tells the voter to stop filming
In a second video, a voter said, “Hey if this aren’t working, if these machines aren’t working, this is a big issue.” This video has also had several hundred thousand views on November 8, 2022.
“Against the law,” the poll worker said.
“What is against the law?” asked the voter.
“Photos and videos in here.”
“No, I can have a video if this machine isn’t working,” insisted the voter.
“Did it work?” he asked.
“Yes it worked,” someone off screen said.
“This is awful, like this is wrong,” said the voter as he walked out the door.
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