Looks like there’s a lot of interest in Maricopa County #elections again. Let’s take some questions and comments from the audience.
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It is precisely because of law and order that we don’t finish tabulation until several days after the election. Please see ARS 16-550. Or would you prefer us to tell legitimate registered voters that we’re choosing not to follow that section of the law? azleg.gov/ars/16/00550.h…
On 8/3, we starting verifying signatures on 122K early ballots that were not received until Election Day. State law is pretty clear that we should make sure signatures match on these ballots before counting them as valid. So yeah, it was reasonable to prioritize that.
We did not invent the election system any more than we invented the internet. The AZ Legislature makes the laws that govern elections and we follow those laws. Current law allows for early (mail-in) ballots to be received until the polls close on Election Day.
We would invite you to continue this conversation with your state legislator, who is responsible for making the laws that we follow. Also (and this is not a secret), everyone votes on a paper ballot in Maricopa County.
“Get your manure here” is a tagline we hadn’t considered. But you should know that election departments don’t “call” races. We process ballots & report results. If other people want to speculate about winners & losers before all ballots have been processed, that’s their business.
Counting is not the same as reporting. We never stopped counting. We reported additional results last night & will do so each day until all of the ballots have been processed. But kudos on your knowledge of Ugandan election administration.
Please share the specific ways you think they’ve neglected their duties with the appropriate citations to state law and election procedures. Thank you.
We’re a little bit rusty on that section. Maybe because we’ve chosen, instead, to train our election workers instead on the laws and manuals related to ELECTIONS.
Feel free to look through this manual as it seems more relevant to the topic: azsos.gov/sites/default/…
This is actually a statement of fact as you have 0 followers.
Bottom line: Law doesn't allow us to collect early ballots on Election Day until after polls close. Our teams transported, scanned, & processed these ballots until early AM (8/3) to prepare for signature verification. Now, we process the verified ballots & follow up on others.
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Have you seen this viral video? The people sharing it are lying to you.
So here we go, defusing a new election ‘bombshell’ that’s a lot like the old ‘bombshells.’🧵
Claim: "Maricopa County did secret testing of tabulation equipment. Just look at this video!"
Facts: If it was a secret, why did we livestream it? That's the opposite of secret. People interested in the facts can find those in our May 10 court filing. Excerpt below:
Bottom line: The video shows the installation of new memory cards which happens in each election. A judge already considered this supposedly "new" evidence in Ms. Lake's election contest and found it unconvincing.
BOMBSHELL 🧵: We’ve noticed that election misinformation seems to spread more widely when there’s incendiary language & out-of-context graphics, pictures, or videos. So we are going to EXPOSE the UNBELIEVABLE facts as election workers are CAUGHT IN THE ACT following the law. ⬇️
What happens in the tabulation center isn’t a state secret. Cameras are rolling throughout, political party observers are present, and our elections directors are telling them what’s happening as it is happening.
Black canvass bags are used to transport voted ballots & results reports from Vote Centers after polls close on Election Day. Bags have a tamper evident seal for security, are logged on a chain of custody form, & returned to @maricopavote by 2 poll workers of differing parties.
VOTERS: All legal votes will be counted. Your vote will count equally whether it is reported first, last, or somewhere in between. Thank you for participating.
CANDIDATES: All legal votes will be counted, including votes for you. If you have the most votes in the final tally, you will be elected. If you do not have the most votes, you will have lost your election.
DISINFORMATION SUPER SPREADERS: Please read Arizona election law & the elections procedures manual before asking leading questions about how something seems suspicious. There are processes + checks and balances in place to make sure every legal vote is only counted once.
What happens after Vote Centers close their doors? An all-night process with employees and volunteers across the political spectrum working to report results and prepare early ballots requiring signature verification. 👇
Poll workers close down voting locations after 7 PM. Depending on any lines, the process can vary, with most taking anywhere from 30-60 minutes.
In-person election result data and Vote Center equipment is returned to the downtown election center, where early ballots are organized for scanning, while in-person voting results are uploaded and then reported to the results website.