PHOENIX — Leaders of one of the nation’s most battle-tested counties in the Trump age of voter conspiracies are vowing they won’t be deterred or distracted in the final two months before Election Day.
“If candidates think they are going to intimidate our workers, they are not,” said Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates.
Gates responds to Trump's 'cheating' rhetoric
Over the weekend, former President Donald Trump ratcheted up rhetoric, vowing to arrest opponents, poll workers and election officials who break the law if he wins. Trump also repeated a baseless attack he’s used in recent weeks, saying if he loses it will only be due to “rampant cheating” by Democrats.
Elections officials across the country condemned Trump’s latest remarks, saying they erode trust in elections and increase the potential for unrest.
Gates himself has been a target of threats over the past two elections.
“The people who work in elections, these are good people. A lot of these folks have other jobs, maybe they just participate temporarily,” Gates said Monday. “I think it’s very discouraging for their efforts to be questioned, regardless of who the candidate is.”
Board approves 236 voting centers
On Monday the county board voted to approve 236 voting centers for November, a record number. There will be 35% more voting booths available on Election Day compared to 2020.
During the meeting, board members also warned: Don’t expect Arizona to know who won major contests until many days after the election. They pointed out Arizona has historically tight presidential races, a legislature-approved same-day ballot drop-off option for voters (unlike Florida, Arizona allows ballots to be dropped off at voting centers across the state, leading to more post-election day counting), and the legislature passed a new layer of auditing that requires workers to count the number of ballots at each voting center before they are sent to a central location for tabulation.
“I want to make sure people remember, we are simply carrying out what the legislature designed,” said Supervisor Thomas Galvin.
2-page ballot will create longer waits
Other key notes for the upcoming election provided by the county’s election department include:
- This will be the first time since 2006 Arizona counties (9 of 15) will have a 2-page ballot
- Voter registration continues through next month and the county expects 2.5-2.6 million total registered voters by Election Day
- 1.9 million voters (78%) are on the county’s early voter (mail-in) list
- 300,000-500,000 ballot drop-offs are expected on election day
- 315,000-420,000 voters expected on Election Day to check-in and get ballots issued
- In-person voting is expected to take, on average, 11-12 minutes
- The number of ballot pages “cast” will not reflect the number of voters because a voter may only return one of two pages
- Election Day voters can use the cell phone app, LOCATIONS.MARICOPA.VOTE, to see a map showing wait times at each voting center. The times are updated every 15 minutes
Decision 2024
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