Maricopa County judge denies GOP lawsuit to extend poll hours, delay voting numbers

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — A judge denied on Tuesday evening the Republicans’ effort to extend poll hours and delay the release of early ballot numbers on Election Day in Arizona’s largest county. The judge rejected the notion that people in Maricopa County were denied their ability to vote because of tabulation machine issues. The poll hours will stick with ending at 7 p.m. and early ballot results will be released around 8 p.m. Republican groups, including including the Republican National Committee and Kari Lake For Arizona, wanted to extend those by three hours.

Just before 5 p.m., Republicans filed a lawsuit with Maricopa County Superior Court to extend the hours because of problems with 60 voting locations where tabulation machines wouldn’t take ballots because of printing problems. The GOP groups claim poll workers told voters to ditch their ballots if they weren’t accepted. During the hearing, the GOP’s attorney said election workers didn’t properly check in or check out voters who wanted to go to other polling places, so they couldn’t vote. The county’s attorney said despite the tabulation problems, no polling placed close, and voters were given opportunities to cast their ballots.

On Tuesday afternoon, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates said that printing issues were affecting dozens of tabulation machines, but everyone was still allowed to vote at the polling place. All they had to do was put their ballot in a secure box or check out of the polling place and go to a second polling place. Just before the hearing, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer was originally one of the people being sued, but he said since his office isn’t responsible for Election Day or tabulation, he was dropped from the lawsuit.

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