The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors certified the 2024 election results on Thursday.
Tight races set to go to automatic recount will start after the statewide canvass, which is scheduled for Monday.
Supervisors addressed the fact that, this year, the county had to use two-page ballots, which caused longer election proceedings. Democratic Supervisor Steve Gallardo pointed the finger at the Legislature for sending several measures to the ballot and changing laws that he said contributed to the problem.
“It’s the Legislature. The infamous wisdom of the Legislature - or the lack thereof - they continue and it isn’t just the propositions, it is time, over time, over time, they try to go in and tinker with how elections are done. They’re not happy with the results so they go in and they start passing bills that add it,” Gallardo said.
The canvass passed smoothly without opposition from any of the supervisors.
They thanked election workers for their hard work to get accurate results as quickly as possible and combat misinformation.
In a presentation to the board, Elections Director Scott Jarrett announced that this year's voter turnout percentage was 80.3%, which is the second highest it’s been since 1980.
Outgoing Republican Supervisor Clint Hickman asked voters to have a positive attitude about waiting in line to vote, like Taylor Swift fans do.
“When you go into a line; make sure you celebrate it, because there’s a lot of Taylor Swift fans that celebrate the line they’re in to get those tickets, and those shoe aficionados for the Nike store to get the first run on that, and please put your mindframe in that. It’s a celebration of patriotism and a civic duty that people died for,” Hickman said.
He also left a message for the incoming Board of Supervisors who will face immense scrutiny when it comes to elections.
“I’m actually doing this for the next board so they understand just how much weight and how much stress and how much pressure they will be put under by people that want to come and do performative politics, and try to get on TV and assault our names and our reputations to do it,” Hickman said.
Republican Supervisor Thomas Galvin closed out his comments by asking lawmakers to consider making some changes to election law to get results more quickly. In particular, he asked the Legislature and governor to consider moving up the deadline by which voters can drop off early ballots.
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