Arizona has permitted voting through the mail system for over two decades and it is used by more than 80% of Arizona voters. Voting through mail in votes is a secure process through the following strict standards:
Voter identity verification
The requirement of at least 90 days to notify the use of mail in voting
Tracking and monitoring of mail in votes sent out
Signature verification and tabulation
Still, election fraud conspiracies swarmed the topic of the Arizona elections as much public attention was placed onto Maricopa County and the race between Kari Lake and Katie Hobbs.
Lake commented on the fraud surrounding Arizona elections: “They’re run poorly. They’re ripe with fraud.”
In light of recent accusations that the electoral officials in Arizona, specifically in hot spots such as Maricopa County, are “slow-rolling” the vote counting process, there is much value in understanding the electoral process adopted by the state of Arizona.
What is the voting counting process in Arizona like?
Arizona has adopted a “first in, first out” vote counting approach, meaning that votes that come in earlier are counted first. Therefore, up until a few days ago, ballots received on the last day of voting in the Arizona 2022 election were not counted until just recently.
Bill Gates, GOP chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, addressed the criticism saying that electoral workers are putting in nearly 14-18 hours daily. He also addressed Lake’s comments saying that “We are absolutely not slow-rolling it. And quite frankly, it is offensive for Kari Lake to say that.”
Arizona had a slight hiccup in their vote counting process when their machines failed to print timing marks that were dark enough. Regardless, everyone’s vote was still accounted for as affected voters were able to "spoil" their ballot and go to a different polling place or deposit their ballot into a dropbox that was collected after polls closed.
Arizona also has the option for voters to confirm whether their mail in votes were verified and counted for or if they were rejected and the reasoning for such rejection. Along with such precautionary measures, Arizona adopts a decentralized voting system, meaning each county conducts the election in their area. Arizona elections are largely dependent on local election officials who have been working day and night, according to Gates.