phoenix – On Sept. 9, members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors adopted a 2024 general election plan, but this year’s voting makes things a little more difficult for poll workers and voters alike.

County officials did not use the word “complicated” to describe the election. In fact, they call this election “unique.” The county expects to receive 2.1 million votes, but the two-page ballots could take each voter 12 minutes to complete.

Although 50% of participating voters filled out their ballots at home, hundreds of thousands chose to turn in their ballots on Nov. 5, potentially inundating poll workers with people and paper. be.

County prepares for potential problems

“There are always problems and there are always mistakes,” Maricopa County Supervisor Clint Hickman said. “This is a huge people’s operation. It started on Election Day.”

Maricopa County officials listed several steps they are taking this election. First, everything about Election Day has been enhanced. There are more polling stations, booths, tabulation machines, workers, ink and paper.

However, boards were warned to prepare for bottlenecks at polling stations, inside voting booths and with counting staff. Some voters wait in line for 20 minutes, while others wait up to an hour.

“We tend to hear a lot of bad news about the challenges we faced in elections, but I think the good news is that we should be talking about it more. We had such record levels of participation.” Superintendent Bill Gates said.

Issues that county officials may face

There are two issues county officials would like to resolve before getting involved with the two-page ballot. For example, one page of the ballot may be accepted, but the other page is not.

In such a scenario, there is no need to worry as trained poll workers will intervene. Still, it slows down the process.

Another problem counties may face is that the number of voters who participated may not equal the number of ballots because not everyone may fill out both pages. Contains scenarios.

As for counting the ballots, officials estimate it will take twice as long to process all the ballots.

“We’re following state law, so if something takes a little longer this November, it’s not because something sinister is happening or something wrong is happening. That’s the way things are in Arizona. We will notify you of the results as soon as possible,” said Maricopa County Executive Zach Silla.

Those who want to avoid lines and make poll workers’ lives a little easier can drop off their ballots early, on or before October 29. Ballots will be mailed out within a month.

County officials also said people shouldn’t expect any races to be called on election night, as the race is expected to be very close.