Ballots are counted in a specific order in Maricopa County

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - With the largest population in Arizona, Maricopa County faces the daunting task of accurately counting and verifying ballots cast either by mail or in person. But did you know there is a specific order in which your ballot will be counted?

We’re expecting to see the first release of results at 8 p.m. on election night. These will include totals for most early ballots that were received and verified by 5 p.m. on Saturday, November 5. Votes from ballots cast in person on election day are not included in the initial release at 8 p.m. That’s because each of the 200+ vote centers has mini tabulators on site that are not connected to the internet. Bipartisan teams and election officials pick up the tabulator memory drives from all of the voting centers and transport them to the election server at the recorder’s office in downtown Phoenix. Once that has been done, and those votes are counted, then Maricopa County will release results for the day-of voting. Due to the size of Maricopa County, travel time from some voting centers to downtown Phoenix will be longer than those closer to the election headquarters.

Results from additional early ballots that were received after Saturday will be released alongside ballots cast in person once an hour until all of the election day votes have been counted. The County says this could last into the early morning hours on Wednesday. County officials will release updated numbers once a day starting Wednesday night until every vote has been counted.

The final election result update on election night will include all verified early ballots received before election day and the day of ballots cast at polling locations. What’s left are early voting ballots that were dropped off on election day. These will need to be processed and go through the signature verification phase before being counted. This process could take several days.

By the Friday after the election, the Maricopa County Elections Department expects 95%-99% of votes to have been counted. The only votes left to be counted are the ones that still need to be cured.

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