Maricopa County on Wednesday held a mock election to help poll workers and election officials learn what challenges they'll face processing and counting the two-page ballots in preparation for the upcoming November election.
At the Maricopa County Counting and Election Center (MCTEC), poll workers met with elections officials to conduct a simulated election.
Lawmakers have already put six bills to the vote. I am prepared Send me moreThis was to avoid a veto by Governor Katie Hobbs. Citizen Initiatives They're expected to qualify to vote, which means ballots in Maricopa County will be longer than can fit on a single sheet of paper.
In Wednesday's mock election, poll workers playing the role of voters were given fake voter ID cards to scan at the polling station and receive a ballot, just as they would on Election Day. However, some of the cards also contained instructions detailing various “obstacles” or problems their voters might have.
The mock polling station was equipped with 12 check-in kiosks and three on-demand ballot printers provided by the county to test their performance.
In the 2022 midterm elections, Maricopa County elections Printer Issues That meant the polling place's vote-counting machines couldn't read some of the ballots. (All affected ballots were sent to MCTEC to be counted later.) The printers the county used at the time are no longer in use, but county elections director Scott Jarrett said the county planned to run 800 voters through them during the two-hour mock election — double the number reported by the county's busiest polling place in the last election.
Election officials looked at 2020 and 2022 and found that at the polling station with the highest turnout, about 400 votes were cast in a two-hour period.
Jarrett said the mock election was a stress test for the county to see where it went well and, importantly, where it went wrong.
In addition to what is likely to be a tightly contested election, for the first time since 2006, voters 2-page ballotBallots are printed double-sided, and voters must vote on both the front and back of each ballot to complete their vote.
Jarrett said he's “fairly confident” the ballots won't reach three pages. More costly for Arizona counties.
The first page of the ballot will be tailored to the elections that pertain to the voter and where they live, while the second page will be the same elections for the entire county, including judges and ballot measures.
This is also the county's first full-scale mock election, including poll workers and staff. About 60 poll workers and 50 election department employees participated Wednesday.
One of the challenges counties face on Election Day is how long it will take voters to cast their ballot. Typically, voters have about 10 minutes to fill out a ballot, but officials found that it took voters an average of 13 to 15 minutes to fill out the two-page ballot.
The additional time could lead to longer lines at polling places, something the county has faced criticism over before.
The Maricopa County Board of Elections said it is confident it can run the election “regardless of the page count” and plans to promote voter education in advance to avoid any issues.
Early ballots for the general election will be available through Oct. 9. For more information about Maricopa County's primary and general elections, voters can visit: Ready to vote..
