For the first time in nearly two decades, Maricopa County voters will cast their ballots on a two-page ballot, and election officials say they're prepared, even if it means doubling everything.

“There's a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done in a very short period of time,” Maricopa County Elections Director Scott Jarrett told reporters on Wednesday. “This is the Super Bowl of elections, and we're ready.”

The county has 13,572 ballots, averaging out 79 different races, including presidential races, local school board positions, state legislative seats and judicial retention races. The last time voters were given two-page ballots was in 2006. 19 Ballot Measures.

Jarrett told reporters that while much attention has been focused on the large number of ballot proposals this year, most of which lawmakers introduced to avoid a veto from Gov. Katie Hobbs, there are other reasons for the length.

One reason for this, he said, is the rise of third-party candidates: Maricopa County voters will see third-party candidates in more races than in previous election cycles, which means more information will have to be included on the ballot itself.

Still, Jarrett acknowledged that the biggest reason the ballot would be long is the ballot propositions, which must include language explaining each proposition to voters.

Republican senators 11 ballot proposalsThis is the highest number of legislative consultations since 1984. When lawmakers put 13 bills to the voteMaricopa County isn't the only one that uses two-page ballots: Nine of Arizona's 15 counties also use two-page ballots.

In Maricopa, ballots also vary in length depending on which precinct a voter is in. They're still two pages, but the number of questions varies. For example, the longest ballot is in the Lonesome precinct in west Phoenix, and the shortest is in the Desert Oasis precinct in northwest Maricopa County.

Earlier this year, before the primary election, the county A mock election was held The mock election was a first for the county and was intended to stress-test the equipment for the possibility of two-page ballots. Jarrett said the mock election helped election officials understand where bottlenecks exist in the system.

The two biggest bottlenecks they found were the voting booths themselves and the on-site tabulating machines: At the voting booths, voters need more time to fill out their two-page ballots, and on-site tabulating machines have to be careful that voters don't insert the pages too quickly, causing jams and other problems.

Because of these anticipated issues, the county announced it would increase the number of counting machines in certain locations from two to three, and 13 polling places where higher voter turnout is expected will have three machines.

“We're pretty confident in the model that we've built,” Jarrett said, adding, “The lines are normal. They're not abnormal.”

During the 2022 midterm elections, problems with ballot printers at 70 polling places caused long lines in some areas. The printing errors caused some ballots to be rejected by voters. Voters were then instructed to place their ballots in secure drawers to be counted at county headquarters. Those ballots were counted, and all printers were replaced by the county.

The county found in tests and mock elections that inserting two pages of ballots in succession caused problems with tabulating machines clogging up — meaning that after a voter counts one page, they have to set the other aside to be counted later. But Jarrett said extra training and signs on tabulating machines informing voters to wait to insert the second page would prevent that from becoming a major issue.

Another issue that counties are trying to get ahead of with voter education campaigns is how a two-page ballot would affect early voters. In theory, a voter could send in just one of the two pages and have their vote counted, but not in every election. If a voter tried to send in a truncated second page after the fact, they wouldn't be able to.

Additionally, Jarrett said, voters from different families who live in different parts of the county could fill out their ballots together and make a mistake about which envelope to put their vote in. In that case, their ballots would not be counted.

Jarrett stressed that it's important for voters to understand that they need to send in both pages when voting early. Right now, counties are waiting for guidance from the Secretary of State's office on how to best notify voters of the issue if their vote wasn't counted, Jarrett said.

Doubling the ballots means doubling the work.

Jarrett said the county plans to increase staffing and implement night shifts to get the results done by the deadline set by state law. Maricopa County has about 14 days to tally the votes, conduct post-election audits and file reports, while also addressing a potential recount and other issues.

Jarrett said the county has purchased new, faster counting equipment for its central processing center than was used in previous elections and has also doubled the number of counting stations, where bipartisan teams of election officials and observers troubleshoot problems with ballots that can't be read by counting machines.

As with any election, the results are not finalized on election night. Once counting ends on November 5, any ballots dropped off in drop boxes on the day or mailed in short notice will not be included in the results.

Jarrett said he strongly encourages people to vote early to make Election Day go more smoothly and allow counties to count votes more efficiently and accurately.

Asked how staffing would affect the election outcome, Jarrett said, “We have the staff, we have the technology. We're ready.”

Counties across the country are seeing a surge in threats against election workers and are cutting staffing, especially in Maricopa County, a hotbed of conspiracy theorists.

The county also increased the number of vote centers from 147 in 2022 to 246 in 2024.

Jarrett said he expects wait times to average 15 to 20 minutes, but that some areas could see wait times of up to an hour during peak times, but he stressed that voters in those locations can always go to another nearby voting center if they want to cast their ballot faster.

People who plan to vote early can also find out what's on their ballot. County Website Voters who wish to check if they are on the early mailing list or check their voting registration status should be prepared to vote in person on Election Day. Ready to vote..

Early ballots for the general election will be sent to voters on October 9th.

***UPDATE: This story has been updated to note that there are 13,572 ballots remaining in Maricopa County.