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Inside the ballot counting process in Maricopa County
With Election Day two weeks away, election workers are processing hundreds of thousands of early ballots. FOX 10's Andrew Christiansen learns how it works.
PHOENIX - Tuesday marks two weeks until Election Day, and the Maricopa County Elections Department is already hard at work counting thousands of ballots.
How It Works:
Before ballots even arrive at the Tabulation and Election Center, their signatures are scanned by a vendor and then officially verified by the Recorder's Office to ensure accuracy. Once signatures are confirmed, election workers remove the ballots from their envelopes and feed them through tabulation machines.
By the numbers:
The Recorder's Office reports over 310,000 people have already voted early as of Oct. 19. The Elections Department says it is ready to tabulate more than 225,000 of those ballots.
What they're saying:
Officials say transparency is critical to building public trust throughout the count.
"Maricopa County, we really try to lean into transparency because we want people to have confidence when they cast their ballot," Jennifer Liewer, Maricopa County deputy election director, said. "We livestream our ballot tabulation center every day, all day, actually all year long, so people can tune in at any point and watch it."
Dig deeper:
The Elections Department also runs regular audits at multiple stages to guarantee an exact count. They use tamper-proof seals and require election workers to sign off on all ballot deliveries.
Officials say they also have strict safeguards in place to prevent double voting and to ensure only eligible citizens cast a ballot.
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What you can do:
If residents still need to request a mail-in ballot, Oct. 23 is the last day to do so. Election officials recommend mailing it back no later than Oct. 27.
The Source: Information in this report was gathered from Jennifer Liewer, deputy elections director with the Maricopa County Elections Department; election officials with the Maricopa County Elections Department; official reports from the Maricopa County Recorder's Office; and FOX 10 reporter Andrew Christiansen.