This past Tuesday, a judge officially rule against the extension of voting hours for Maricopa Counter, Arizona, in the wake of officials quickly organizing an emergency hearing due to almost 60 different polling locations dealing with severe issues with the printing of ballots, as expressed by a local media source.
If successful in their motion, the officials would have forced the polls throughout the state of Arizona to remain open and accessible until close to 10 p.m. while fully suspending any and all tabulated early ballot returns that would have been released publically in Maricopa County until close to 11:00 p.m.
This choice takes place after Republican legislators put forth a motion to extend the polling hours for the county in Arizona due to the fact that the voting machines in close to 25% of all locations had experienced crippling printer issues, which ended in the malfunctioning of the tabulation machines. However, the error did not end up causing any ballots to be misread.
“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,” explained Ronna McDaniel, the Chairwoman of the RNC, via social media. “We have dozens of attorneys and thousands of volunteers working to solve this issue and ensure that Arizona voters have the chance to make their voices heard.”
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. (1/3)
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) November 8, 2022
Another post via social media by Maricopa County recorder Stephen Richer claimed that officials had finally dismissed the suit.
“We are not responsible for Election Day or tabulation,” stated Richer.
We have now been dismissed from this lawsuit — we are not responsible for Election Day or tabulation. https://t.co/4ct1ZW5i1w
— Stephen Richer—Maricopa Cnty Recorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) November 9, 2022
One data and political analyst for ABC15, Garret Archer, claimed that Republican attorneys explained to the judge that they would take strides to challenge the fight over the conditional provisional ballots voted by any persons that showed up to a voting vent but ended up leaving due to the intense issued with tabulation.
Kelli Ward, the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, first spoke out to state that the issues were taking place at a number of prime polling locations in Maricopa County. Members of the local media officially confirmed this shortly afterward, stating that at least one tabulation machine was reporting a severe issue. Later that morning, however, many county officials and local news outlets stated that as many as one in five polling locations had reported trouble during that time.
Kari Lake, the Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate, spoke out via social media to guide impacted voters, calling on them to go along with suggestions being issued by county officials. Both Lake and Senate candidate Blake Masters attempted to push their supporters to remain in line and wait it out.
