Here’s why officials preach patience when it comes to Arizona election results

PHOENIX – Once upon a time, early Arizona election results were typically so lopsided that it was easy to call a winner. As a result, the fact that ballots were still being counted for days didn’t get much notice.

But now that Arizona has morphed from a reliably Republican stronghold into a battleground state, officials are preaching patience ahead of Election Day.

As home to over 60% of the Grand Canyon State’s population, Maricopa County will be in the national spotlight as the Arizona election results roll in Tuesday.

Maricopa, which encompasses Phoenix and its surrounding suburbs, is by far the largest county in any of this year’s seven battleground states with about 4.5 million residents.

In 2020, just over 2 million Maricopa County voters cast ballots, with Joe Biden topping Donald Trump by about 45,000 votes in a state Biden won by fewer than 11,000 votes. So it’s easy to see why the county and state are expected to play a key role in determining whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris will move into the White House in January.

How long will it take for Arizona election results to be known

Maricopa County will release its first batch of results at 8 p.m. on Election Day and provide additional updates over the course of the night. By late Tuesday or early Wednesday, the results of all in-person voting as well as all early ballots tabulated before Election Day will be reported.

One thing to be aware of is that the Arizona election results could take longer to report than in previous years. That’s because there is a new law that requires vote center employees to hand count the number of early ballots dropped off on Election Day before closing up shop and transporting the tabulator machine memory cards that hold the in-person voting results to the county’s central election headquarters.

“In order to do that, we’ve staffed up using county employees, trusted names, faces, to ensure that we can get that process done quickly and safely and get those results back to MCTEC in the timely and safe manner,” Assistant Maricopa County Manager Zach Schira said during an Oct. 22 press conference. MCTEC is the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in downtown Phoenix.

In the days following the election, officials will provide updates until all the votes have been counted.

“This year we do expect that it will take between 10 and 13 days to complete tabulation of all of the ballots that come in, but we ask for the community’s patience,” Jennifer Liewer, Maricopa County deputy elections director, said during the press conference. “We want to make sure that this is a secure process but we also want to make sure that it is an accurate process.”

Speed of Arizona election results limited by state laws

If the 2024 presidential race is as close as the polls suggest, anybody expecting a quick call in Arizona is likely to be disappointed due to a variety of factors.

States where the races aren’t close or that cut off early ballot acceptance before Election Day are likely to have fast calls on election night. That’s not the case in State 48, where the current election laws came from the Republican-led Legislature over the years.

The main holdup with Arizona election results is that voters can drop off early ballots until the polls close at 7 p.m. on Election Day.

All “late-early” ballot envelopes must be scanned and the signatures must be verified before those votes can be tabulated. A five-day curing period to determine whether provisional ballots or early ballots with mismatched signatures should be tabulated also can slow the pace of Arizona election results.

Media calls have to wait for enough Arizona election results

Media outlets will call races in Arizona and other states using their own statistical analysis based factors such as how close the races are and how many ballots remain to be counted.

However, a media call has no impact on the vote-counting process. Nothing is official until all eligible ballots are counted and the results are canvassed and certified by county and state officials.

“The media call races,” Liewer said. “At the tabulation center, we’re focused on counting all of the ballots.”

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