President Donald Trump calls Maricopa County ‘dishonest’ after vendor mails ballots early

President Donald Trump called Maricopa County “very, very dishonest” after county vendor Runbeck mistakenly mailed more than 3,000 early ballots six days ahead of schedule.

County officials say the ballots remain valid.

When a reporter asked Trump about the early mailing Monday, he rejected the explanation that it was an error.

“There were no errors,” Trump said. “Maricopa sent out thousands of ballots illegally, and they got caught! And now they’re saying it was an error. Maricopa is a very, very dishonest county,” he said at a Monday news conference.

Trump has repeatedly criticized elections in Maricopa County since losing the county and Arizona to Joe Biden in 2020.

Runbeck Election Services, which prints and mails the county’s early ballots, told the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office on Oct. 2 that it had mailed 3,126 early ballots the previous day. The scheduled mailing date is Oct. 7.

The Recorder’s Office said it did not authorize the early mailing and learned of it only afterward. The correct ballots went to the correct voters, all of whom had requested them, according to the office.

After consulting with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, the Recorder’s Office determined the ballots do not need to be voided or reissued. Voters can fill them out and return them as usual. Any ballots received before early voting begins will stay sealed and in secure storage until processing starts, the office said.

In a statement Sunday, Runbeck said the ballots had been processed separately because they did not qualify for automated postal handling. A pallet holding them was mistakenly released with other mail on the evening of Oct. 1.

“The early delivery was a matter of timing in the release of staged mail to the USPS and did not involve the validity or production of the VBM packets,” the company said.

Runbeck said it has added verification steps so staged mail goes out on its scheduled date. The Recorder’s Office said Runbeck has accepted responsibility and will work with the office to prevent a repeat.

Asked for comment Monday, county Recorder Justin Heap referred KTAR News 92.3 FM to Runbeck’s statement.

Monday is the last day for Arizonans to register and be eligible to vote in the Nov. 3 general election.

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KTAR News’ Senior Editor Kevin Stone and reporter Heidi Hommel contributed to this report.

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