The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors certified the general election results Thursday afternoon, clearing the way for the election. Recount to officially begin.

Maricopa County election officials and some commissioners emphasized that the county counted a record number of votes in a shorter amount of time than in previous elections, apparently in response to the election. Call for reform of the aggregation process.

It took the county 10 days to count 2,078,460 two-page ballots, effectively doubling the work for election workers. The vote total was the second-highest in county history, surpassed only by the 2020 election, which also took 10 days to count.

Maricopa County Elections Director Scott Jarrett also noted that his county outperformed other counties of similar size in turnout. Voter turnout in Maricopa County was 80%, higher than Harris County (Texas), Miami-Dade (Florida) and Cook County (Illinois).

Voter turnout exceeded the county presidential year average of 77%.

In Maricopa County become the focus After the 2020 election, the state supported President Joe Biden, sparking fabricated claims of widespread election fraud in the state. Assistant County Manager Zach Sheila told the board the county has issued 686 media credentials to journalists from 17 countries.

The Election Commission and the Election Commission also emphasized the following. Their preparations before the election By addressing two-page ballots, they helped count more than 4 million pages of ballots.

This year was the first time since 2006 that a ballot paper extended past the second sheet of paper. The average Maricopa County ballot contained 79 races, with more than 13,000 different voting styles based on local races, bond issues, and policies.

Asked by the board how a one-page ballot would have changed the counting process, Jarrett said he believed 99% of the results would have been reported on election night.

“There’s a lot of inaccurate information out there about this,” Jarrett said of the speed of vote counting in Maricopa. “We are counting votes faster than ever before.”

But at least one supervisor said he believed the county could tally it more quickly.

Republican Maricopa County Supervisor Thomas Galvin is pushing for changes to early voting aimed at speeding up counting at the expense of limiting voters’ options for voting early.

Galvin is asking lawmakers to change state law to prohibit voters from dropping off early ballots at polling places on Election Day. Instead, he wants the deadline to be set on the Friday before the election, similar to Florida’s deadline, which Republicans regularly point to when criticizing Arizona’s slow vote-counting process.

Legislative Republicans and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer have supported similar proposals in the past, but Gov. Katie Hobbs has said she does not support changes to early voting that take away choice from voters.

Galvin also proposed using more government buildings as voting locations. something similar to a recommendation It was prepared by Hobbs’ campaign headquarters.

But some of Galvin’s fellow supervisors disagreed.

“Scott (Jarrett) is not going to point fingers because he’s a gentleman, but I will,” said Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo, a Democrat. “It’s Congress…I blame the Capitol and Congress for not listening to election experts.”

Gallardo said the root of Maricopa’s tabulation problems is that lawmakers have introduced nearly a dozen bills on the 20204 ballot to avoid Hobbs’ veto pen and have changed election procedures over the past few years. Said to be the cause.

But Galvin said there is support from both sides, citing a statement from Democratic Pima County Supervisor Rex Scott, who expressed support for his proposal.

The board will approve the election canvass, allowing electors in counties that have triggered the state’s automatic recount law to begin the process. There are three races in Maricopa County that will undergo automatic recounts.

• Maricopa County Board of Supervisors District 3: Kate Brophy McGee (Republican) and Daniel Valenzuela (Democrat) 0.04% difference
• 2nd Legislative District State Representative: Justin Wilmes (R) and Ali Daniel Bradshaw (R) 0.08% difference
• Fountain Hills City Council: Matthew Corrigan and Peggy McMahon have a 0.03% difference.

***Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the candidates for Fountain Hills City Council whose election will be recounted. The candidates are Matthew Corrigan and Peggy McMahon.