Republican Maricopa County supervisor joins calls to speed up Arizona vote counting

Maricopa County Supervisor Thomas Galvin is the latest Republican to call on lawmakers and Gov. Katie Hobbs to pass reforms to speed up vote-counting in Arizona elections.

It took Maricopa County 11 days to count the over 2 million ballots cast in the Nov. 5 election, which is in line with historical norms and the expectation set by county officials in the days before the election.

Galvin said that timeline is due to state election laws, including rules allowing voters to drop off early mail-in ballots through Election Day.

“So I have seen first hand how state laws, which we must follow, have an effect,” Galvin said. “First of all on voters and their expectations of when votes are tabulated, but also all of the employees and volunteers who take part in this process and are under considerable strain and pressure while going through it.”

Galvin said changes could be made to allow the county to report 95% of results on election night, including moving up the deadline for voters to return early ballots. That is similar to proposals backed by other Republicans, including Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert), who said he would like to adopt a Florida-style law that would push the deadline back to the Friday before Election Day.

Galvin, who said he would support moving the deadline back to Friday “or maybe even before then,” said he received a positive response from legislative Republicans, including Petersen and House Speaker-elect Steve Montenegro (R-Goodyear).

The alliance between Galvin – who will be the longest-serving Republican on the Board of Supervisors next year – and legislative leaders comes after years of friction between the GOP-controlled board and Republican lawmakers.

That all started before in the wake of the 2020 presidential election as the board, before Galvin took office, sought to dispel unproven claims that widespread fraud impacted the elections and dealt with the Arizona Senate’s much-maligned so-called audit, which Petersen helped oversee.

But Galvin, who has staunchly defended the county’s elections since taking office in 2021, said his proposed reforms are not rooted in those conspiracies. He argued his proposals are common sense reforms to speed up vote counting to improve the experience for voters and election workers.

“I do want to say that I think I have a reputation for not being an election denier or trafficking in conspiracy theories,” he said. “I really hope that what I'm proposing here grabs attention, because I do believe that in the name of election integrity, if we do have most of the ballots tabulated by election night, Arizona overall would be much better off.”

But Hobbs, the Democratic governor, has already indicated she won’t sign off on changes to the early voting deadline.

“My line in the sand has been and will continue to be anything that makes it harder for Arizonans to vote is a no for me, and that includes the flexibility that we have with early voting,” Hobbs said when asked about the proposal.

Galvin disputed Hobbs' claim that moving the deadline would disenfranchise any Arizona voters.

“I think this would just have to be a shift in behavior among Arizona voters,” Galvin said. “But I think Arizona voters are very smart and will shift their behavior and react accordingly.”

Galvin is calling for other changes to state law that could expand access, including a proposal to eliminate emergency in-person early voting – which is currently allowed in the days before the election for individuals who can prove an emergency would prevent them from voting on Election Day – and allow any voter to use in-person voting on the Saturday and Monday before an election.

“If you do want to vote in person before Election Day, you have to do it that weekend, but it has to be for emergency reasons and you have to sign a piece of paper attesting that you have an emergency,” he said. “It's called emergency voting, so I just want to transition emergency voting to full in person.”

A third proposal to use more government buildings as polling places mirrors a recommendation made by the elections taskforce Hobbs convened after taking office in 2023. The governor ultimately signed an executive order authorizing the use of state facilities as polling locations.