Maricopa County Says It’s Found a Solution for Tabulation Issues, Blames Printer

Bill Gates, Chairman of the Maricopa Board of Supervisors, speaks at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix, Ariz., on 8, 2022. John Moore/Getty Images

Authorities in Maricopa County, Arizona, say they appear to have found a solution to tabulation issues on Nov. 8 in dozens of polling stations across the county.

Earlier in the day, election officials said that tabulators in about 20 percent of polling sites in the county were malfunctioning. Voters were still able to vote at locations with defective machines, although the ballots would be placed in a secured box, election officials said.

At about 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.

“County technicians have changed the printer settings at about 60 Vote Centers,” the statement said. “It appears some of the printers were not producing dark enough timing marks on the ballots,” it added, saying the solution worked at 17 locations so far. Officials said technicians are now working to resolve the issue around the county, which includes Phoenix, Arizona’s most populous city.

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

During a Nov. 8 news conference, Maricopa Board of Supervisors Chair Bill Gates said that after some voters filled out their ballots, the tabulator wouldn’t accept them. That issue was present in about 20 percent of county polling sites.

Gates told the press conference that voters should place ballots in a drop box, where they “will remain secure in there all day long.”

“At the end of voting after 7 p.m., when everything is completed, these ballots will be taken out securely and delivered by a bipartisan team … down to here at the central tabulation center,” he said.

Local Republican officials and candidates sharply criticized county officials over the tabulation issues.

An elections worker scans mail-in ballots at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix, on Nov. 7, 2022. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Maricopa County officials didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.