Arizona Election Results Delayed Due to Long Ballots and Court Orders

Arizona is still awaiting the final election results, which were expected to be available by Wednesday morning, due to several factors that have slowed down the counting process. One of the primary reasons is the lengthy two-page ballot used in Maricopa County, the state’s most populous county. The ballot, which is the first two-page ballot in nearly 20 years, has taken workers nearly double the usual time to process. This involves removing the ballots from envelopes, laying them flat, and checking for damage, according to Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer.

In Maricopa County, officials estimated that they still had about 700,000 early ballots to process as of Tuesday night. The initial round of results released at 8 p.m. on Tuesday included only ballots received up until October 29, a week before Election Day. This is unlike previous years where the first round included all early ballots cast up to the Friday before Election Day.

Additionally, a court order in Apache County required polling places to stay open later than planned, contributing to the delay. The order was issued after technical issues led to long lines at polling places across the county. This extended voting time has delayed the reporting of Election Day results in Apache County.

In Pinal County, the volume of ballots received from precincts overwhelmed the counting facilities, leading to delays in reporting Election Day results. As of Wednesday morning, only about half of the precincts in Pinal County had reported their results.

A new law requiring poll workers to count the number of early ballots dropped off at polling places before leaving their sites has also added to the delays. This law has extended the final reporting time for Election Day results by an hour or two compared to previous elections.

The complex and time-consuming process, combined with the high turnout and the need to ensure accuracy, has led Arizona election officials to warn that it could take up to two weeks for the results to be fully tabulated).