Arizona Judge Rejects Republicans’ Request to Extend Voting Hours in County After Issues With Voting Machines

Voters drop their ballot in a dropbox in the U.S. midterm election at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center, in Phoenix, Arizona on Nov. 8, 2022. Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images

An Arizona judge has rejected a lawsuit filed by a Republican coalition to extend voting hours in Maricopa County after issues occurred earlier in the day with tabulation equipment at dozens of polling sites.

“The court does not have evidence there was a voter who was precluded the right to vote from what was presented,” the judge, Timothy Ryan, said minutes before polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday, reported multiple outlets.

The emergency motion (pdf) was filed by the Republican National Committee (RNC), the National Republican Senatorial Committee, former state lawmaker Jill Norgaard, as well as the campaigns of the Arizona Republican Senate and governor nominees—Blake Masters and Kari Lake, respectively.

“The RNC is joining a Republican coalition to file an emergency motion to extend poll hours in Maricopa County because voting machines in over 25% of voting locations have experienced significant issues,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement.

“The widespread issues—in an election administered by Democrat Secretary of State Katie Hobbs—are completely unacceptable, especially as Republicans flock to the polls to vote in-person on Election Day,” she added. “We have dozens of attorneys and thousands of volunteers on the ground working to solve this issue and ensure that Arizona voters have the chance to make their voices heard.”

The Republican coalition requested to have all voting centers in Maricopa County remain open until 10 p.m. local time on Election Day, Nov. 8. This would be an extension of 3 hours.

They also requested that any public release of early ballot results in the county be suspended until 11:00 p.m. local time.

According to the filing, some voters “were denied an opportunity to vote, and not advised of their right to vote a provisional ballot, in direct contravention of controlling law.”

Attorneys for Maricopa County were reviewing the emergency motion, a spokesperson for the county told 12News.

The filing came after election officials said that tabulators in about 20 percent of polling sites in Maricopa County were malfunctioning, but that voters were still able to vote, although the ballots would be placed in a secured box.

Later, at around 2 p.m. local time, the Maricopa County Elections Command Center said in a statement that officials “identified a solution” to the problem and said “printer settings” were the cause.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer released an apology over the problem around the same time, and said that “every legal vote will be tabulated. I promise.”

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.