PHOENIX — Maricopa County expects it will take 10 to 13 days to complete counting the approximately 2.1 million votes expected for the 2024 general election.

12News received a question about why Maricopa County estimates it will take 10 to 13 days to count all votes. Maricopa County has never counted all the votes on election night.

arizona law Early voting is required in every election. These early votes require specific steps to be followed. Check your ballot,

• Scan the green affidavit envelope to verify that the person has not yet voted in the current election

• Verify voter signature

• A bipartisan team then manually removes the ballots from the envelopes and checks them for damage.

• The ballots can then be tabulated.

So far, 2,090,347 early votes have been requested for the 2024 general election as of close of business Thursday, Maricopa County elections officials told 12 News.

In recent years, data shows that Maricopa County Recorder’s Officemore of these early votes were returned by voters on Election Day. In 2022, these votes accounted for nearly 20 percent of all votes cast in the November 2022 general election.

The new state law also requires green affidavit envelopes containing ballots to be mailed on Election Day and counted at each vote center after polls close. It is then taken to the Maricopa County Tabulation and Elections Center (MCTEC) to begin pre-count processing.

According to Maricopa County election data, the average time it takes to count a ballot in each election year since 2006 is 13 days.

There’s a difference between counting every vote and determining a winner. In states where one candidate has a large lead and it is impossible for the other to catch up, a winner can be determined before all votes are counted, regardless of the remaining votes. .

In Maricopa County, the race is really close.

“Roughly one-third are Republicans, one-third are Democrats, and one-third are independents,” said Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates.

Back in 2002, Arizona’s gubernatorial race was between Democrat Janet Napolitano and Republican Matt Salmon. I can’t call because it’s too close election night.

In 2018, the U.S. Senate runoff between Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema took almost a week.

“We want people to know that although ballots will be counted more quickly than ever before, it will take time to get results. “That’s true,” said Maricopa County Delegate Jennifer Liewer. the election official said. “This is largely influenced by people who ditched early voting on Election Day because the race was so close.”

Results will be announced on election night, with the first batch announced at 8pm that night. These results typically include early votes returned by the Friday before Election Day.

You can find information on how to track your ballot and voter registration. here.

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