Maricopa County elections are governed by the joint work of county registrar Stephen Richer and the Board of Oversight, both of whom support the county’s elections department. Richer’s office is responsible for early voting, and the elections department manages Election Day voting, but there have been problems with ballot printers and tabulators.

“Once again, the world’s eyes are on Maricopa County for another failed election,” Matt Baker told the supervisor. “Am I here to accuse you of stealing votes? God, no, that makes me a terrorist, doesn’t it?”

Baker talked about the issue of tabulators, where voters who voted in person on Election Day choose to put their ballots in a box named “Door 3” for later counting or go to another voting site. bottom. By the end of his comment, he yells at his supervisor, “You are the cancer that is tearing this country apart!”

During the Nov. 8 midterm elections, approximately 70 of Maricopa County’s 223 vote centers experienced printer problems. Voters had the choice of placing their completed ballots in a secure box at each site so they could be counted at a county election center later, or canceling their ballots and going to another vote center. .

No other speaker was more outspoken about disappointment than Baker, but supervisor Bill Gates said the audience applauded, cheered, and talked about those who disagreed. I had to repeatedly ask the audience to be quiet. Supervisor.

“We believe our system is safe, secure and accurate,” said Coach Steven Gallardo, the only Democrat on the five-member panel. “People have some concerns and thoughts about our election and they should be considered legitimate concerns. prize.”

Gallardo added that many changes would have to come from the state legislatures rather than the counties.

Chris Hamlet, who ran for the Mesa School Board and was slammed with just 8% of the vote, was in a vote center in a conservative neighborhood where both tallies were down in the first 30 minutes of the ballot. said. He said most people left and made their way to more liberal areas and voted in about 20 minutes.

He believes the printer problem was intentional and designed to discourage people from voting on Election Day.

“There is no other way to do this than to have another election to completely annul this,” said Hamlet. “It’s silly to go on with this charade and think you’ll get anything other than a tainted result when you’re done.”

Several other speakers called for an all-new midterm election in Maricopa County. Among them were poll workers and Election Day observers who witnessed the problem first hand.

there is no state law This will allow county supervisors to reverse the November 8 election results and call for a new election.

Former Phoenix firefighter Sheila Roberts said she served as a marshal in both the primary and the general election.

“I would say 80% of the people who came out to vote … voted for Republican and America First candidates because they want to protect this country and this state,” she said, not believing the results of the election. added. , several Democratic candidates for statewide offices won their race.

many Republican supporters waited for election day vote directly.

Thomas Griner was one of the few speakers Wednesday to say something positive about last week’s election in Maricopa County.

Griner said he had a good experience serving as a poll worker for the first time during the midterm elections, adding that the poll workers were all hard workers and voters were happy to thank them for their help.

“Some of them said they came to our location because there were long lines at other locations,” Griner said, adding that information provided by the county about the length of lines at polling places was not expected by voters. He added that he believed it would be useful for

Supervisor Thomas Galvin thanked poll workers and observers for sharing the problems they saw and experienced on Election Day, and all supervisors were disappointed that voters experienced problems. added.

“It is our duty to understand exactly what happened to prevent it from happening again,” he said.

But Galvin said he must listen to all voices 1.5 million people voted Not just the people I spoke to during the conference, but on the Maricopa County midterms.

Galvin also addressed ongoing complaints about the length of time the Maricopa County investigation took. count the votessays the county is just following state election laws.

“If you have trouble counting votes, go to the state legislature,” Galvin said. “They were sitting on their butts.