ona’s Maricopa county election officials address ballot questions amid Kari lake, Blake Masters lawsuit // Arizona’s Maricopa County Elections Department addressed an Election Day Issue in which dozens of polling stations ran short of paper ballots, affecting tens of thousand of votes. Chairman Bill Gates and Vice Chairman Clint Hickman jointly stated that Arizona election officials will investigate thoroughly and assure voters that they will not be affected. They claimed that all ballots would be counted securely, accurately, and in a timely manner. “Over the last 24 hours, we have learned more regarding the printer issue that caused some ballots not to be read at Vote Centres yesterday. Although the issue affected less than 7% of Election Day voters (17,000 ballots), it was still frustrating and inconvenient for those who had to go through it. FIVE TOP TAKEAWAYS FROM 2022 MIDTERM ELUTIONS The duo stated that they would investigate the matter further. The chairs addressed one issue: the ballot-on demand printer machines that were previously used and worked correctly during primaries. “The settings for the Ballot On-Demand printers at Vote Centres were identical to those we used in the August Primary. The paper was the same thickness. The statement stated that the Elections Department had tested hundreds of ballots before the General Election and found no issues. 2022 ARIZONA ELECTION RESULTS It said, “We are committed in finding out what factors caused issues at 70 Vote Centers Tuesday.” We are grateful for the county techs that found a solution by changing printer settings. “The good news is that the election administration has created -in redundant — backup plans in case things don’t go according to plan. This allows all valid votes to be counted even if technology fails. The printer issue affected voters had many options to cast their ballots yesterday. They could also drop their completed ballot in a secure box (door 3 on site), they added. “Those ballots will then be verified as valid and tabulated at MCTEC. This process is already in progress.” ARIZONA OFFICIAL SAYS FASTER BALLOT COUNTING ‘PROBABLY’ REQUIRES POLICY CHANGE Arizona uses only paper ballots. It does not use electronic scanners to make ballots count. This can lead to delays in some cases, like in Maricopa County. “Once this election is over, we are committed in finding the root cause of this issue so it doesn’t happen again,” the pair concluded. “We are confident in the work that remains to be done to accurately and securely count every vote.” The results of Arizona’s gubernatorial race between Republican Kari lake, and Democrat Katie Hobbs remain pending. The Senate race between Republican challenger Blake Masters and Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat, is still pending. The Republican National Committee, Lake, Masters, and the Campaign for Lake are suing Maricopa County in Arizona over issues with the voting machines.