ona’s voting machine glitch leads to concerns about election integrity The delay in Tuesday’s voting was caused by a printing error at approximately one-quarter of the polling stations in Arizona’s most populous County. However, election officials assured voters that every vote would be counted. Despite this, conspiracy theories about the integrity and validity of the vote in the pivotal state arose at 60 of 223 Maricopa County vote centers. Former President Donald Trump, Republican candidate Kari lake, and others claimed that Democrats were trying subvert the vote for Republicans, who tend not to show up in greater numbers on Election Day. Lake and other Arizona candidates have made false claims about the 2020 presidential election, adding to Trump’s lies about a stolen vote. However, election officials from both political parties as well as members of Trump’s Cabinet claim that there was no widespread voter fraud. They also state that Trump lost his reelection bid to Democrat Joe Biden. MIDTERM ELECTIONS : LIVE UPDATES Maricopa County Superior Judge Timothy Ryan denied Republicans’ request to keep the polls open. He said that he didn’t see any evidence that people weren’t allowed to vote. Republican Bill Gates, the county supervisor, apologized after the polls closed. However, he said that “every voter had the chance to vote and have it counted.” Unknown numbers of ballots were affected by the issue in the county. The sprawling city is home to approximately 4.5 million people and 2.4 million registered voters. More than 80% of voters cast their ballots early by sending in mails, while 230,000 voted in person within an hour of the closing of polls. Printers that did not produce dark enough markings on the ballots were at issue. Election officials had to adjust the printer settings. Some voters who attempted to insert their ballots into the voting tabulators had to wait or use another machine. Others were told that they could drop their ballots in a dropbox. These votes were expected to be tallied Wednesday. Voters in the county are given a ballot for the precinct they live in. The races they can vote for are printed for them when they check in. This allows voters to vote at any location in the county. The ballot is then filled out and placed in a tabulation machine for counting. The tabulators could not read the ballots as the printers didn’t produce “timing marks”, which are dark enough to be read by machines. Timing marks are used to tell a ballot scanner which voter’s precinct, party, and other information is needed to properly tabulate their votes. Voters who had their ballots rejected were informed that they could use the second tabulator at another location, or put it in a box to be counted at a central facility later. Or they could cancel it and go to another voting center. MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA ELECTION OFFICIALS SAY SOLUTION FOUND TO VOTING MACHINE PROBLEMS Eddie Perez, an election technology specialist at OSET Institute, a non-profit organization that focuses on election security and integrity, stated that election officials have many tools, including a different scanner to read the lightly inked marks. He was confident that the ballots would get processed accurately. Most Arizona counties don’t count ballots at polling stations. Officials take the ballots to a central location for counting. The central location will count the ballots that were left at Maricopa County’s drop boxes. After Trump’s defeat in 2020, hundreds of Trump supporters protested at the county’s main election building, where votes are tabulated. 11 officers rode horseback to patrol the area outside the county’s tabulation centre in downtown Phoenix. This is a common practice at protests in Phoenix, which was also used in the past. Even after polls closed, no protesters were seen outside the center. Gates, the county supervisor said that protestors were not allowed to enter the facility. However, he acknowledged that they have a right. Gates stated that there was nothing that occurred today that would indicate that there is a need for someone to be out there, or that there is an injustice that needs to be addressed. “We had an issue regarding printers that was addressed by the good people in Maricopa County.” Voting was slowed in traditionally Democratic and Republican areas, particularly at an outlet mall in conservative Anthem. Some voters reported that they had to wait several hours before being able to vote using the only tabulator that worked. Phoenix voter Maggie Perini stated that she was able vote at the polling station on the other side. However, a man in line next to her struggled with his ballot at the different tabulator. The ballot was processed when he switched to her machine. Perini said, “And then, I know one woman coming out, she tried like 4 or 5 times for it to work but it wasn’t working.” “And somebody had told her she could vote, and she was like, No, no. Voter Michael McCuarrie claimed that his ballot was not read and he dropped it off to have it counted later. McCuarrie said, “Fine as long the vote is counted.” “I don’t mind.”