A temporary Maricopa County elections worker was arrested Friday after allegedly stealing keys and security fobs that could be used to access the county's vote-counting machines.

With just a week to go until mail-in ballots are due to be sent out, Maricopa County detectives have charged 27-year-old Phoenix resident Walter Lingfield Jr. with one count of theft and one count of criminal damage to property. Lingfield allegedly stole a key fob and a lanyard with a lock attached while working at the Maricopa County Counting and Election Center. Lingfield is being held in custody and will not be released without a court order, according to court documents.

At the time of his arrest, Lingfield told detectives he had the keychain for 20 minutes the previous day and then returned it. However, after obtaining a search warrant, investigators found the keychain at his home. It is unclear what his motive was for taking the keychain, but he suggested to investigators that it may have been a mistake.

“Walter stated that the job was temporary and he wanted to clean up because he was looking to make it permanent,” the report states, without providing further explanation.

Mr. Lingfield was not immediately available for comment, but his father, Walter Lingfield Sr., said in a telephone interview that he would “withhold judgment until all the facts are known.”

“I love my son,” he said, adding that he hopes his son will call him soon.

Walter Lingfield Sr. said his son recently graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in political science.

Lingfield began working as a temporary election worker at the counting center on June 3. County court records show he had been charged with theft for an incident in July 2023, but he participated in a diversion program and was not convicted. Maricopa County spokeswoman Jennifer Lewer said the county conducted a background check on him before hiring him, which turned up no convictions.

Maricopa County is hiring more than 2,200 poll workers, as well as more than 530 temporary election workers, in preparation for the state's primary election on July 30. The county is advertising the jobs on its website and social media accounts.

The mail-in ballots were sent out on July 3, and the county had already programmed and tested its voting machines. As a result of the security breach, the county will have to reprogram its voting machines and security fobs at a cost of $19,000, according to the investigators' report. County officials also plan to repeat pre-election logic and accuracy tests “to ensure the integrity of Maricopa County elections,” according to a statement from the county elections department. Logic and accuracy tests are designed to ensure voting machines count ballots accurately.

The alleged theft comes as election workers in Arizona and across the country work to ensure election security and raise concerns about possible insider threats. “We welcome this incident, but… [to] “The Effectiveness of Security Protocols Built into Arizona's Election System.”

“The Maricopa County Board of Elections' swift action to further secure all affected devices, including re-running tests for logic and accuracy,” the statement said. “This swift response will help prevent any potential impacts to future elections.”

According to a county statement, county officials noticed the lanyard missing Friday morning. The lanyard has a plastic key and a security fob that workers use to access and program the machines. Workers hold the fob over the counting machine and enter a password to gain access.

County officials reviewed surveillance footage from Thursday evening and saw Lingfield placing a red wrist strap containing a key and fob in the right pocket of his shorts while working at the counting center, according to a detective's report on his arrest.

When county officials confronted Lingfield about the theft, he reportedly said he had not taken the items, but that “it might be in the car” if he had taken them by mistake. County officials and security officers were allowed to look inside Lingfield's car and found a red plastic strap in the center console and a plastic tag that matched the missing keys, but did not match the security fob.

Detectives went to Lingfield's home on Friday and the suspect said he had been fired after his employer believed he had stolen something but had returned the key fob.

Detectives found the lanyard in his car at the home and then executed a search warrant and found the security fob on a dresser in the master bedroom.

County officials told detectives that the safe operation of election facilities would be “significantly impeded until reprogramming was completed,” according to the report.