MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. — Maricopa County officials have asked a former Arizona Supreme Court justice to lead an investigation into the printer issue that caused problems at some polling places on Election Day in November.
The Board of Supervisors has asked former Chief Justice Ruth McGregor to assemble a team of experts that will investigate why some of the county's printers couldn't read ballots during the general election.
The issue led to voters having to wait in long lines and some were asked to place their ballots in a special box so that they could be transported and tabulated at another voting center.
County officials have previously said the printers were tested on Nov. 7 and displayed no apparent problems. But the following day, some election workers noticed tabulators were experiencing problems reading ballots printed by the BOD printers.
On Election Day, county officials tried assuring voters that they could still submit a ballot if they waited for tabulation machines to start working or went to another voting center.
Republican Kari Lake has tried to argue that the equipment issues in Maricopa County disenfranchised voters and were grounds for challenging her loss to Gov. Katie Hobbs. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge dismissed Lake's election challenge last month.
McGregor served on the state Supreme Court from 1998 to 2009. She's previously been part of investigations that examined security issues at Arizona's prisons.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who will serve as a member of the task force, released the following statement:
"I share the Governor's commitment to election integrity and look forward to working with her office to ensure this bipartisan Task Force is set up for success. It is important for both of our executive offices to work in tandem with one another, the state legislature, and county and local officials that administer elections. Voter confidence is paramount."
