PHOENIX β The Arizona Republican Party and the Republican National Committee complained Friday that ballots aren't being processed fast enough.
In rebuttal, Bill Gates, a Republican who chairs the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said elections workers are putting in 14- to 18-hour days. That did not satisfy Kelli Ward, chair of the state GOP, who wanted round-the-clock counting.
Gates slapped back, calling the complaint a "political stunt.''
He said counting is going no slower than it has since 2006. He rejected the idea of increasing staff.
"Changing processes or adding untrained personnel would only slow the counting at this point, and we will not deny the voters of Maricopa County an accurate tabulation of their votes,'' he said.
The rate of counting has led Republican candidate for governor Kari Lake to charge that officials in the state's most-populous county are deliberately delaying the counting of ballots that would favor GOP candidates.
Gates said that isn't true. But he did say there is a way to make counting go faster in the future: Remove some Election Day options for voters, just as Florida has done.
"Florida does not allow for mail-in ballots to be dropped off at voting locations on Election Day,'' Gates said.
Arizona does. And Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, who is also a Republican, said the practice has exploded.
In 2014 there were just 112,000 of these day-of ballots. By last year it had ballooned to 172,000, Richer said. And this year the number hit 290,000.
Pima County reported about 44,000 of those "late early'' ballots this year.
Richer said these ballots have to be reviewed, including matching signatures and verifying that the ballot in the envelope matches the information on the outside. But he said the priority for staffers on Election Day is to process the ballots that were cast at the polling places.
So would Richer recommend that lawmakers scrap those day-of drop-off ballots?
"When we're in the process that we currently are, it sure would be nice to have had those a few days earlier,'' he said.
Gates took a more neutral stance, saying his comments about Florida were simply an observation and not an endorsement.
But such a change is not out of the question.Β
"I believe Florida provides a good model to follow,'' said state Sen. Warren Petersen, the Gilbert Republican who was just selected by his caucus to be Arizona Senate president for the coming two years. "They are much bigger and have results night of,'' he said.
But Gabriella Cazares-Kelly, Richer's Pima County counterpart, is not interested in such a move.
"I think that the system is working,'' she said. And Cazares-Kelly, who is a Democrat, said any change would not only confuse voters but leave them with fewer options.
She acknowledged that has been an increase in these Election Day drop-offs. But Cazares-Kelly said the blame lies with the politicians who fueled voter distrust.
"There were people who were making active efforts to tell people that 'the mail can't be trusted, that unless you drop it off in person on Election Day, your vote isn't going to be counted','' she said. She said that was "political discourse that is not focused on the voter.''
Nor does the Pima County recorder think Florida is a good model.
"When I think about Florida's restrictive voting laws, that is not something I want to champion or encourage whatsoever,'' she said.
Cazares-Kelly said Florida has a smaller window for voters to cast early ballots, whether in person or through the mail. She said that can harm people who, for whatever reason, did not get their ballots sent off in time.
And Cazares-Kelly pointed out that Pima County has no 24-hour drop boxes, making hand delivery the only option for those who do not get their ballots in the mail in time to arrive by 7 p.m. Election Day.
"What are people supposed to do?'' she asked.
It is true that those who drop off their ballots on Election Day will not have them counted until the end. And their votes won't be part of the first tally that is released an hour after the polls close.
But Richer said his office told voters what they needed to do remedy that.
"I noted this every single day of the month of October that if you get your ballot back to us before the weekend it would be part of the 8 p.m. result,'' he said.
See how election ballots are sorted, secured, processed and counted in Pima County after you vote.
