Officials promise no mess at the polls
Lines caused more than 100K voters to walk away in 2016
On March 17, Maricopa County will host its first Presidential Preference Election since the 2016 debacle that resulted in hours-long lines and caused more than 100,000 voters to walk away from the polls without casting ballots.
The long lines and corresponding issues in 2016 were caused by a major reduction in polling locations — an ill-advised cost-savings measure.
The election left a mark on county-run elections, planted a seed of distrust in voters’ minds and ultimately led to the ousting of longtime Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell.
New County Recorder Adrian Fontes and other county leaders say 2016’s mistakes won’t be repeated. New technology, increased manpower and many additional polling places will assure a smooth election process.
In fact, the changes should result in little to no lines and much quicker results, county officials promise.
2018 election issues
Fontes’ first countywide elections in 2018 did not unfold without issue — but he said the lessons learned from those elections allowed his office to revamp outdated election practices.
Voter check-in equipment was not properly installed at 62 polling places during the August 2018 primary, leaving voters unable to secure ballots in the morning hours.
In the November 2018 general election, most of the technical issues had been resolved. But a decision by Fontes to allow widespread “emergency voting” in the days prior to the election and ballot “curing” post-election day landed the county in hot water with the state Republican party.
After the issues in the 2018 elections, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors decided to take back some of its responsibilities over elections from the county recorder.
Under state law, the board has authority over election day and emergency voting, while the county recorder is responsible for voter registration and early voting. In the 1950s, the board signed over its responsibilities to the recorder, essentially making the recorder responsible for all election-related activities.
Current board Chairman Clint Hickman said the board and the Recorder’s Office dissected the elections and realized they needed to invest in new technology and additional people to provide “best in class elections.” The board allocates funding to the Recorder’s Office.
But Hickman said with that additional funding, the board also thought it was important for the supervisors to regain more direct oversight of elections.
There are now two elections directors — one who reports to the recorder and oversees election services and early voting, and another who reports to the board and oversees emergency voting and election day.
“The voter and the people and the citizens demand great elections. They’re performing their citizen’s duties. We don’t need to do anything that is going to make that ... a lousy experience,” Hickman said.
Only Democrats can participate
The biggest difference between the 2016 and 2020 presidential preference elections boils down to who can participate. Only registered Democrats will be allowed to vote in the 2020 Presidential Preference Election.
The Arizona Republican Party chose not to hold an election, throwing its full support behind the reelection of President Donald Trump. Independents are not allowed to vote in presidential primaries.
Independents or others registered with other parties who wish to vote must change their voter registration by Feb. 18 in order to participate.
Fontes said the county has invested in marketing to try to ensure voters know who can and can’t participate in the election.
In 2016, 18,298 registered independents cast provisional ballots that did not count in the presidential preference election.
“We needed to talk to voters. We needed to fight against misinformation and disinformation that was getting spread out there because the county wasn’t doing a good enough job,” Fontes said.
The county has created a website called beballotready.vote, which will show voters whether they are eligible to vote in the election and provides other resources.
Number of polling places
In 2016, there were just 60 polling places in Maricopa County for the presidential preference election. This year, there will be 229.
Additionally, each polling place will have six check-in lines. Only two checkin systems were available in 2016.
Fontes said the check-in system is also much faster than it used to be — four minutes in 2016 and about one minute in 2020. “If you look at 2016 compared to 2020, just on numbers alone... I think that we’re in very, very good shape,” Fontes said.
New equipment, faster results
The county spent $6.1 million to lease new election tabulation equipment last year. The presidential preference election will be the first countywide election with the new systems.
The new equipment includes new accessible voting devices, precinct-based tabulators where voters submit their completed ballots at polling places, and new tabulators for mail-in ballots.
The new mail-in ballot tabulators are expected to significantly speed up results.
The old tabulation system, which was purchased in 1996, could only count 3,000 ballots per hour and could only work six hours per day because of memory limitations.
The new tabulators can count 6,0008,000 ballots per hour with no memory limitations.
In previous elections, the county took six to 10 days to count all ballots. That should be cut in half with the new tabulators, Elections Director Rey Valenzuela said.
More people
In addition to the equipment, the Board of Supervisors also allocated money to hire 24 additional elections employees and three additional IT employees — bringing the total elections staff to 53, or about double what it was previously.
Valenzuela said Harris County, Texas — which is about equal in size to Maricopa County — has had 52 people in its elections department for many years.
“We were a culture of heroes, if you will, and we shouldn’t have been. We should have come to the board sooner and said, ‘We need more resources,’” he said.
More poll workers and training
In addition to more full-time staffers, the county is also working to recruit more poll workers for election day.
Elections Director Scott Jarrett said the county is increasing the number of poll workers at each polling place from six to seven to add a “line management clerk.”
This worker will be stationed outside the polling place to answer questions, direct voters with disabilities to accessible voting devices and direct voters with mail-in ballots to a drop-off box.
During the Presidential Preference Election, the line management clerk will also ensure all of the voters in line are registered Democrats and, if Republican or independent voters show up at the polls, the clerk will explain to them why they cannot vote in this election.
The clerk will also report back to election headquarters if major lines develop so county officials can deploy additional resources to that location, Jarrett said.
Jarrett said all poll workers will receive in-person training before election day.
The county is still hiring poll workers. About 65% of positions are currently filled, he said.
Emergency voting/ballot curing
The state Legislature clarified emergency voting and ballot curing laws after questions arose in 2018.
The county will offer in-person emergency voting at seven polling places across the county on the Saturday and Monday before election day. But, voters must sign an affidavit saying they have experienced an emergency that will not allow them to vote on election day.
Voters whose signatures do not match the signature on file now have five days after the election to “cure” their ballots in federal elections. Voters can check their ballot status at ballotstatus.maricopa.vote.
Dress rehearsal for November
National experts have predicted that the presidential election in November could come down to Maricopa County.
Fontes, Hickman and other county officials know this — and they’re using the March presidential preference election as an opportunity to work out the kinks so everything runs smoothly later this year when the nation’s eyes are on the county.
“We’re as close to dry running for November 2020 as we’re going to get. We’ve got to be ready. All of us are feeling that breath of pressure on our necks. All of us take this very, very seriously.”
“We should have come to the board sooner and said, ‘We need more resources.’”
Elections Director Rey Valenzuela