October 24, 2022
November General Election Tabulation Begins Today
The Maricopa County Elections Department begins counting early ballots today, with 168,000 ballots ready for tabulation.
All early and provisional ballots will be counted at the Elections Department, while Election Day ballots are counted on tabulators inside the Vote Center.
"The Board takes the tabulation process—and its statutory responsibility—seriously," said Chairman Bill Gates, District 3. "The equipment has been tested so we know it is programmed to count the votes accurately. We’ve hired bipartisan staff to count the ballots when political party observers are present. Regardless of who wins or loses, voters can trust in the results that our election processes, procedures, and audits provide."
State law allows the tabulation of early ballots prior to Election Day. Using federally and state certified tabulation equipment, Maricopa County estimates 98 percent of ballots will be reported by November 11, finalizing the count 10-12 days after Election Day.
"We are off to a great start for the November 2022 General Election," said Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer. "With 1.9 million early ballots mailed, 12 Vote Centers open and more than 25,000 new or updated voter registration applications processed, we’re excited to begin tabulation of the ballots."
Results will be posted at 8 p.m. on Election Day at Results.Maricopa.Vote. The first posting of results will be all the early ballots counted to that point. Throughout Election night, the County plans to post results from the Election Day Vote Centers.
But the count isn’t done on Election Night. The County is expecting 150-250,000 early ballots to be dropped off on Election Day. All of those early ballots must first be signature verified and processed, before they are counted. The County must also complete the tallying of write-in candidates, researching provisional ballots and curing questionable signatures prior to finalizing the counts.
After Election Day, the County will post unofficial election results nightly and provide an estimated number of ballots left to count.
Voters can track and verify the status of their ballot by texting "JOIN" to 628-683 or by visiting BeBallotReady.Vote.
Due to a new Arizona law, the County is also preparing for the increased chance of an automatic recount after final results are confirmed. Senate Bill 1008 increased the automatic recount threshold from a tenth of one percent to half of one percent. If a statewide contest triggers the new threshold, Arizona counties must count all the ballots on the machines a second time beginning in December after the Statewide canvass. It’s likely the courts would finalize the recount in late December.