Maricopa County officials address election security ahead of Tuesday’s primary election

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - We are less than a week away from the August 2nd primary election, and Maricopa County election officials are looking to shut down any skepticism voters may have about election security.

“I’ve seen a little bit of what I would consider to be either misinformation or wrong information being disseminated on social media,” said District 2 Supervisor Thomas Galvin.

Elections officials are doing what they can to ensure the 3,000 election employees working on August 2nd stay safe; they also want the election to be fair. “We are working with the sheriff, we are working with Stephen Richer to make sure that things are safe out there,” said District 3 Chairman Bill Gates.

That’s where Maricopa County Recorder, Stephen Richer, says bipartisan couriers come in. “For a drop box, it is picked up directly by a bipartisan team of election workers. So that team logs all the secure temper evidence seals, it writes down the numbers and the number of ballots upon picking it up and it takes it to our central count building and they again log the numbers and seals.”

In addition to bipartisan couriers, they are peeling back the curtain for voters to watch ballots getting counted. “This process is the result of thousands of bipartisan Arizonans working together, under cameras, under scrutiny, with processes that have been built over a long time and checks that cover every system, every layer before and after the election,” Richer said.

If you have questions or are still skeptical, richer encourages you to volunteer and participate in the process.

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