Thousands vote at polls, but late earlies take days to be tallied

Updated Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 10:27 a.m.
Over the Veterans Day weekend, Kathy Hoffman won the race for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, Kyrsten Sinema won the race for U.S. Senate and the race for Arizona Secretary of State remains too close to call with Katie Hobbs ahead by a 4,957 vote lead over Steve Gaynor.
To see updated election results, please go to the Arizona Secretary of State’s 2018 General Election website.
Updated Friday, Nov. 9 at 4:03 p.m.
An update on the ballots tallied is expected today after 5 p.m.
To see updated election results, please go to the Arizona Secretary of State’s 2018 General Election website.
There will be no updates to Arizona Education News Service or this story until Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018, because our website is undergoing a redesign and update.
Updated Friday, Nov. 9 at 3:03 p.m.
All county recorders in Arizona will verify early ballots with signatures that didn’t match their voter registration signatures until 5 p.m. Nov. 14 thanks to a settlement Friday afternoon of a Republican lawsuit before the hearing scheduled at 2 p.m. in Maricopa County Superior Court.
BREAKING: All counties in Arizona will work to verify ballots that have signature irregularities after a Republican lawsuit was settled Friday afternoon without a hearing.https://t.co/UNT3S8FxGQ
— KTAR News 92.3 (@KTAR923) November 9, 2018
Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes said the settlement does not affect what they are doing in Maricopa County.
“It is an affirmation of what we are doing,” Fontes said.
When asked if he was angry about Republican allegations that he had destroyed evidence from midterm elections, during Mac and Gaydos Show on KTAR News 92.3 FM.
“No, not really, it’s political nonsense,” Fontes said.
All the envelopes with the signatures that needed to be validated were put to the side as evidence for any lawsuit, but the votes on the ballots inside them were tallied and prepared to be sent to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office as required by federal law, Fontes said.
“Those votes needed to be counted with everyone else’s,” Fontes said.
“We are all Americans first. Our votes are all going to be counted under my administration,” Fontes said.
#BREAKING All Arizona counties will verify ballot signatures through Nov. 14 https://t.co/pphVMhkxK6
— azcentral (@azcentral) November 9, 2018
Updated Friday, Nov. 9 at 2:36 p.m.
Wow – the parties have settled the #election lawsuit here in Arizona @KTAR923 details to follow
— Monica Lindstrom (@monicalindstrom) November 9, 2018
DETAILS GOP lawsuit would be settled by allowing all AZ county elections officials to cure early ballots until 5pm Nov 14. Still some questions. Judge must approve. #12News #AZSEN
— BrahmResnik (@brahmresnik) November 9, 2018
BREAKING: Settlement of GOP suit vs. Recorders. So, this calls for the Recorders who stopped reaching out must now reach out. A victory for the steps the Maricopa and Pima Recorders were/are doing.
More to follow.
— Arizona’s Politics (@AZs_Politics) November 9, 2018
There is no evidence of anything unusual going on in the #Arizona vote-counting — and no elected Republican officials in the state have cried foul. https://t.co/FV4HtrHeRw
— KJZZ Phoenix (@kjzzphoenix) November 9, 2018
Updated Friday, Nov. 9 at 1:31 p.m.
The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office says it could still be several days before the election is called, because due to outdated equipment, elections officials can only count between 65,000 to 75,000 of those ballots per day, according to a story on KTAR News 92.3 FM.
Earlier on Friday, the Arizona Republican Party accused Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes of “premeditated destruction of evidence” after “voting irregularities” in the election, according to an article in The Arizona Republic.
From a former state elections director, who served under a Republican secretary of state https://t.co/PHBNCWtt7J
— Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) November 9, 2018
Arizona’s Secretary of State Michelle Reagan, a Republican, released a statement that in order to ensure against voter fraud, mail ballots dropped off Election Day — which totaled 320,000 — are double-checked with votes cast at the polls to confirm no one voted twice.
“Arizona takes elections seriously – from the poll workers to the county elections officials, and the Secretary of State’s office,” Reagan said in a statement Friday in this KTAR News 92.3 FM article. “Everybody is working diligently to tabulate all of the election results in a manner that Arizonans can be proud of and, most importantly, trust the results.”
An update on the ballots tallied is expected today after 5 p.m. To see updated election results, go to the Arizona Secretary of State’s 2018 General Election website.
At 2 p.m. today, a Superior Court hearing will begin on the lawsuit filed late Tuesday by Maricopa, Yuma, Navajo and Apache Republican Parties against the Secretary of State and all Arizona country recorders to stop the verification and counting of early ballots that were dropped off at the polls on election day.
Sitting in a packed courtroom waiting for the hearing to start regarding the counting of Arizona’s early ballots. Standing room only…should be interesting. Stay tuned to @KTAR923 @MacandGaydos for my updates pic.twitter.com/PlhPeXa6jb
— Monica Lindstrom (@monicalindstrom) November 9, 2018
Updated Thursday, Nov. 8 at 6:03 p.m.
Kathy Hoffman has about a 19,000 vote lead in the Superintendent of Public Schools race and Kyrsten Sinema has almost a 9,000 vote lead in the U.S. Senate race, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s 2018 General Election website.
If you were one of the many voters who cast an early ballot in Maricopa County for the midterm election, here’s how you can check its status. https://t.co/PdD30AvGej
— azcentral (@azcentral) November 9, 2018
More votes from Maricopa, Pima, Gila, Pinal, Mohave, Yuma and Yavapai counties were added to the total on the Arizona Secretary of State’s website. There are still more votes to be counted from Maricopa, Pima, Greenlee, Pima, Pinal and Yuma.
Pima County posted 24,000 of its 100,000 uncounted votes.
— BrahmResnik (@brahmresnik) November 9, 2018
Updated Thursday, Nov. 8 at 5:35 p.m.
When election results were updated at 5 p.m. today, Kathy Hoffman took the lead in the Superintendent of Public Schools race and Kyrsten Sinema took the lead over Martha McSally in the race for U.S. Senator.
Breaking: @kathyhoffman_az pulls ahead by 11k votes in latest ballot dump.
— Steve Irvin (@Steve_Irvin) November 9, 2018
The Senate race has a new leader.
— The AZ Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) November 9, 2018
Sinema now leads by about 2,000 votes after the Maricopa County Recorder released its latest totals to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office’s website. Earlier in the day, McSally had a 17,000-vote lead.
The latest results for the 2018 General Election are now posted online, and can be found here: https://t.co/yJpuLCiCXe
The next update will be tomorrow at 5 p.m. pic.twitter.com/FNpflfST3y— Adrian Fontes (@RecorderFontes) November 9, 2018
Updated Thursday, Nov. 8 at 2:15 p.m.
At a hearing today, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Margaret Mahoney ruled that counties should continue counting ballots, and set another hearing for 2 p.m. Friday.
Denied.
Thank you Judge.
I’m gonna keep counting ballots now.#ProtectDemocracy— Adrian Fontes (@Adrian_Fontes) November 8, 2018
Yesterday, the Maricopa, Yuma, Navajo and Apache Republican Parties filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State and all Arizona country recorders to stop the verification and counting of early ballots that were dropped off at the polls on election day.
Facebook Video: Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes on the Republican lawsuit and counting ballots
If there is a mismatch between the voter’s signature on file and the signature on their early ballot dropped off on Election Day, Maricopa, Pima and Coconino counties are contacting voters by phone to verify that they did sign the green envelope the ballot was mailed in as required by law, according to an article in The Arizona Republic.
Four days ago, @AZGOP said it was illegal for counties to contact voters to confirm signatures on early ballots dropped off on election day. Now, several county GOP groups say it’s OK, as long as all counties use this policy, not just Maricopa and Pima. https://t.co/35dxQDBxAX
— Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) November 8, 2018
Updated Thursday, Nov. 8 at 10:26 a.m.
The Maricopa, Yuma, Navajo and Apache Republican Parties filed a lawsuit late on Tuesday against the Secretary of State and all Arizona country recorders to stop the verification and counting of early ballots that were dropped off at the polls on election day.
Maricopa County Superior Court will hold a telephone hearing at 11:15 a.m. Thursday on the issue, according to an article in The Arizona Republic.
UPDATE: A court hearing is set for 11:15 a.m. today. https://t.co/3jE8jtfcWx
— azcentral (@azcentral) November 8, 2018
At stake is an unknown number of ballots that could tip the result of the U.S. Senate race where 17,000 votes separated Republican Martha McSally and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema as of Wednesday evening. The Superintendent of Public Instruction race also remains too close to call.
“The lawsuit seemed to signal Republicans’ anxiety over Thursday’s expected posting of additional results from Maricopa County, the most populous area of the state, where Sinema has dominated so far,” according to The Arizona Republic article.
UPDATE Preliminary hearing on @AZGOP lawsuit at 11:15 am today in Maricopa County Superior Court. Hearing will be held via phone. No decisions anticipated. #AZSEN #12News
— BrahmResnik (@brahmresnik) November 8, 2018
“The Republican party is doing everything it can to silence thousands of Arizonans who already cast their ballots,” said Felecia Rotellini, chair of the Arizona Democratic Party in a prepared statement in The Arizona Republic article. “That’s absolutely wrong, and the Arizona Democratic Party is fully prepared to fight to ensure that every last Arizonan has their vote counted.”
As previously stated by Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office plans to send a large amount of ballot results to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office at 5 p.m. today. Check the Secretary of State’s 2018 General Election results webpage then.
Updated Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 2:22 p.m.
In Maricopa County, voters approved 5 out 12 of public district school bond elections on the ballot, 9 out of 11 new budget overrides, 17 out of 20 budget override continuations and the only land sale/exchange/lease election, according to Leigh Jensen, governmental relations associate for Arizona School Boards Association.
Arizona school funding was a hot topic this election cycle — and early results show some communities did not approve more funding for public school districts.https://t.co/n8ks4z1s6a
— KJZZ Phoenix (@kjzzphoenix) November 8, 2018
At this time, the Arizona Secretary of State’s website says that with 99 percent of precincts reporting (which is the people voting at the polls in person on Election Day) that 1,739,565 ballots were cast and voter turnout was 46.81 percent among Arizona’s 3,716,161 registered voters.
But the results in two races that are too close to call – for U.S. Senator and Superintendent of Public Instruction – may not be known for up to 9 days, depending on when early ballots mailed in, early ballots dropped off a the polls on election day and provisional ballots are verified and counted, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office.
Outside of a small number of numbers in two precincts that haven’t reported yet, we won’t see new numbers out of Maricopa County until 5pm Thursday
— Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) November 7, 2018
About 472,000 early ballots remain to be counted in Maricopa County, according to Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes and he expects to have some of those votes verified, counted and released to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office by 5 p.m. Thursday, but that it will take 8 or 9 days to to get all these paper ballots tallied.
VIDEO: Nearly 650K ballots left to count, reflecting record midterm turnout, Republic projects https://t.co/UFdORg1eHC pic.twitter.com/ZIyIWHMdhr
— azcentral (@azcentral) November 7, 2018
Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 10:23 a.m.
At this time, the Arizona Secretary of State’s website says that with 99 percent of precincts reporting (which is the people voting at the polls in person on Election Day) that 1,739,186 ballots were cast and voter turnout was 46.80 percent among Arizona’s 3,716,161 registered voters.
Our reporter @jcardinale_ is visiting @NextGenAmerica in Arizona, where workers are continuing to look at the impact they had on youth vote as numbers keep coming. pic.twitter.com/tNYUYhvvvW
— Cronkite News (@cronkitenews) November 7, 2018
About 65.11 percent of Arizonans voted no on Prop. 305, which would overturn legislators’ efforts to expand school vouchers, also known as Empowerment Scholarship Accounts.
Two races remain to close too call with candidates separated by a thin margin of votes, and the results of those elections may not be known for up to 10 days until early ballots mailed in, early ballots dropped off a the polls on election day and provisional ballots are verified and counted, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office.
“It should take the rest of the week to get this done,” said Garrett Archer with the Arizona Secretary of State’s office during an interview on KTAR 92.3 FM this morning.
Half a million early ballots remain to be counted in Maricopa County, according to Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes. Those ballots need to be inspected by hand, verified and totaled, he said.
“I’m super excited for Arizona that we had such great turnout,” Fontes said.
Fontes says there are still about 500,000 ballots that need to be counted in Maricopa County and that a new update on numbers is expected around 5 p.m. on Thursday.
— KTAR News 92.3 (@KTAR923) November 7, 2018
“We’ve got early votes in house from before election day that we didn’t get counted because we were focused on setting up for election day,” Fontes said during an interview on KTAR 92.3 FM this morning. “We expect to release a large amount of those votes by 5 p.m. tomorrow.”
Fontes said there are observers from each party watching the process of tabulating ballots.
The race for Superintendent of Public Instruction remains too close to call with Republican Frank Riggs with 50.2 percent of the vote, while Democrat Kathy Hoffman with 49.8 percent.
The election for U.S. Senator also remains too close to call with Republican Martha McSally with 49.34 percent of the vote and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema with 48.42 percent.
When asked when the results of the U.S. Senate race will be ready, Fontes said “We’re going to get it done, when we get it done, and it will be done well,” Fontes said.
Election Day 2:03 a.m.
As more ballot totals were sent into the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, election results were updated at 2:03 a.m. and the percentages remained similar to what was reported at 9:05 p.m.
Some early ballots that were mailed in, other early ballots that were dropped off at the polls on election day, and provisional ballots remain to be verified and counted and sent in to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office and that process may take several days.
That means the outcome for close races like the U.S. Senate race between Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema and the Superintendent of Public Instruction race between Frank Riggs and Kathy Hoffman may not be known for days.
ICYMI: The race between McSally and Sinema could take days to call. #AZSen https://t.co/jrggYnFsFO
— KTAR News 92.3 (@KTAR923) November 7, 2018
9:05 p.m.
Shortly after 8 p.m., the Arizona Secretary of State started releasing election results on their website.
Quick note on how this works tonight. First results are at 8pm. As counties upload files to our office, I will call out just before/after the new results set is published. This will continue until the counties inform us they are finished, or we all collapse from exhaustion.
— The AZ Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) November 7, 2018
All the following results are unofficial and subject to change over the next several days as more ballots – including early and provisional ballots – are verified, counted and sent to the Secretary of State’s Office.
At 8:50 p.m., Martha McSally has 49.21 percent of the vote in unofficial results and Kyrsten Sinema has 48.5 percent of the vote in the race for U.S. Senator.
Sinema down 9,000 votes after 11% reporting. #AZSen will be close all night long. #ElectionDay
— PhoenixNewTimes (@phoenixnewtimes) November 7, 2018
Governor Doug Ducey leads David Garcia with 58.3 percent of the vote in unofficial results.
RACE CALLED: Doug Ducey defeats David Garcia to win re-election as Arizona’s governor.
MORE RESULTS: https://t.co/IqmFlGsM0d pic.twitter.com/5BGFYpM3Wn— azfamily 3TV CBS 5 (@azfamily) November 7, 2018
Steve Gaynor has 51.3 percent of the vote, compared to Katie Hobbs’ 48.7 percent in the race for Secretary of State.
Attorney General Mark Brnovich leads January Contreras with 53.4 percent of the vote.
In the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Frank Riggs has 50.1 percent of the vote, while Kathy Hoffman has 49.9 percent.
#AZSuper also close with Riggs leading over Hoffman by 2,700 votes. #ElectionDay
— PhoenixNewTimes (@phoenixnewtimes) November 7, 2018
Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Dist. 28, is leading with 50.8 percent of the vote, ahead of Christine Porter Marsh, who has 49.2 percent of the vote in one of the closes races so far tonight.
About 67.49 percent of Arizonans voted no on Prop. 305, which would overturn legislators efforts to expand school vouchers, also known as Empowerment Scholarship Accounts.
Proposition 305 has been rejected. It would have expanded Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account Program to make all students eligible with participation capped at 30,000. https://t.co/7OQPwtfg2z
— KJZZ Phoenix (@kjzzphoenix) November 7, 2018
But the vote on Prop. 126, could limit funding for education and other needs in the state for the long-term.
This will have profound ramifications on the state’s attempt to address any future fiscal issues, from K-12 funding to reacting to the next recession https://t.co/ttCTczNCYP
— Jim Small (@JimSmall) November 7, 2018
Here’s how Arizonans voted on the other propositions on the ballot.
Here is how Arizona voters weighed in on Tuesday’s propositions: Propositions 125, 126, 127, 305 and 306. https://t.co/8wmAZef3Sr
— KTAR News 92.3 (@KTAR923) November 7, 2018
Estimates for what we *think* is remaining.
Apache: 16.5k
Cochise: 11k
Coconino: 10k
Gila: 3.6k
Graham: 0 (beat our estimate)
Greenlee: 54
La Paz: 6k
Maricopa: 672k
Mohave: 10k
Pima: 125k
Pinal: 60k
Santa Cruz: 3.5k
Yavapai: 20k
Yuma: 9k
Statewide: 950k— The AZ Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) November 7, 2018
7:10 p.m.
Polls in Arizona closed at 7 p.m., except where people were still in line waiting to vote.
Dusting off the record books. Highest midterm turnout percentage was 63.3% in 1974. Highest total votes cast was 2010 at 1,750,840. One of these records absolutely will be broken tonight.
— The AZ Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) November 7, 2018
Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes said the long line for voting at Arizona State University was due to the high number of provisional ballots being cast.
.@RecorderFontes says the @ASU Tempe campus lines are long because of provisional ballots. He also has a message for those who are still in line. pic.twitter.com/1gHG6EItim
— Cronkite News (@cronkitenews) November 7, 2018
While you’re waiting for results, take a look at some predictions.
It’s not too late to hear our team’s election predictions! Listen to the latest episode of #TheBreakdown while you wait for results ⏰ https://t.co/Rh7Vi1yghY via @_KECampbell
— AZ Capitol Times (@AzCapitolTimes) November 7, 2018
After 8 p.m., election results will start being released on the Arizona Secretary of State’s 2018 General Election website.
As we wait for the real election results, here are our twitter poll results for #ElectionDayAZ https://t.co/OyWeamRw0Z
— PhoenixNewTimes (@phoenixnewtimes) November 7, 2018
For an analysis on how critical early voting is to election results, read this.
By Election Day, the early vote in three states — Texas, Nevada and Arizona — had surpassed the total turnout in the last midterm election https://t.co/V2OOM9TSy4
— POLITICO (@politico) November 7, 2018
4:06 p.m.
At this time, about 198,000 Arizonans have voted in person at the polls in the 2018 General Election today, according to Adrian Fontes, Maricopa County Recorder.
“I am making my voice heard so that we can put our world back into better order.” – Indigo Harman (left), with Paige Snyder. These two ASU students waited about an hour to vote on Tuesday pic.twitter.com/BMc83Pldji
— Elizabeth Whitman (@elizabethwhitty) November 6, 2018
Anyone who is in line at a voting center by 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote, and results with be available on the Arizona Secretary of State’s 2018 General Election website after 8 p.m.
If you haven’t #voted in the #Midterms2018 yet, here is what you need to know. pic.twitter.com/FoPhRX1TqD
— Cronkite News (@cronkitenews) November 6, 2018
But some are not happy with the emergency voting centers people could vote at in the days before the election in Maricopa and Pima County or a policy decision by the Maricopa County Recorder to contact voters before invalidating ballots over mismatched signaures, which Coconino and Pima counties already do, according to an article in AZMirror.
.@AZGOP is threatening legal action over emergency voting centers & signature verification for early ballots that are dropped off on Election Day https://t.co/QuSjWEwTcv
— Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) November 6, 2018
3:23 p.m.
Early voting totals indicate that young people made up the largest percentage of first-time voters, said Garrett Archer, senior analyst at the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office.
Ooo hey, another tidbit. 18-34 year olds have crossed the 200k early ballot mark today.
— The AZ Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) November 5, 2018
Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes said that by 2:47 p.m. that more than 178,000 Arizonans voted at the polls.
.@RecorderFontes says long lines on @ASU‘s Tempe campus are the result of strong turnout and that more help is on the way. As of 2:47pm today 178,013 votes have been cast today and 691,000 early ballots have been tabulated. pic.twitter.com/LyTut3BAr4
— Cronkite News (@cronkitenews) November 6, 2018
One of the places where voters are encountering long lines is at Arizona State University.
Some students tell me they’ve been in line for about an hour, waiting to vote at this polling place at ASU’s Tempe campus. @KTAR923 pic.twitter.com/LWWQNIUxcN
— Griselda Zetino (@GriseldaZetino) November 6, 2018
But voters are encouraged to be patient and stay in line to vote.
Turnout is looking pretty good today so far. Remember: you MUST be in line by 7pm tonight to cast a ballot. After that, the wait time is 2 years.
— The AZ Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) November 6, 2018
2:18 p.m.
One of the ballot issues voters will decide is Prop. 305, which could overturn a large expansion of Arizona’s school voucher program or Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, that state legislators approved in the 2017 session that would make ESAs available to all Arizona public school students.
The vote will impact not just students in Arizona, but those across the nation because Arizona is seen as a leader in the school choice movement, according to an article in The Arizona Republic.
The outcome of the vote on Proposition 305 will have big implications for the school-choice movement not only in Arizona, but nationally. https://t.co/opVDORc1Xe
— azcentral (@azcentral) November 6, 2018
Save Our Schools Arizona, a grassroots group of education advocates and parents, gathered signatures from 111,540 voters to put the law that provides public tax dollars to private school tuition on hold.
ESA opponents have concerns about the program’s financial accountability and academic accountability.
If Arizonans vote against Prop. 305, they would overturn state legislators’ latest attempt to expand vouchers. Save Our Schools Arizona would like Arizona voters to vote no on Prop. 305.
If Arizonans vote for Prop. 305, state legislators’ latest ESA expansion will be approved and voter-protected, which means it couldn’t be repealed or changed without a super-majority of the state legislators.
1:26 p.m.
Voter turnout in Arizona is estimated to be around 56 percent, which is an unusually high number for a midterm election, according to an Associated Press article. For example, only 36 percent of registered voters turned out for the 2014 midterm elections.
This is the line outside of Palo Verde West on @ASU’s Tempe campus where students are waiting to vote. @azcpolitics #ElectionDayAZ pic.twitter.com/URDdYrkSkH
— Lorraine Longhi (@lolonghi) November 6, 2018
“We’re a big calculator tonight. We take all the numbers from the counties and add them up and give them to the public and to the press,” said Michele Reagan, Secretary of State.
The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office does not count ballots, that is done at each county recorder’s office and they send their results to the Secretary of State’s Office, Reagan said.
“There is a very large chance that some of the races will be so close that we may not know the results for a week,” Reagan said. “Before the county recorder’s count each ballot, they need to verify your signature and make sure you didn’t vote at the polls.”
“If it’s a close race, we’re not going to know tonight,” Reagan said.
Reagan reminded voters that the first they’ll see election results is shortly after 8 p.m. since polls close in Arizona at 7 p.m.
“The biggest thing we’re always concerned about is making sure information isn’t tinkered with,” Reagan said.
Two years ago, Arizona had a problem with a server from a foreign country trying to get in but they didn’t, Reagan said. There have been no problems like that this year, Reagan said.
Jeff Friedman, a 63-year-old auto mechanic in Phoenix, is frustrated that voters can only cast their ballots in specific locations depending on where they live. He thinks the voting process could be more straightforward. #AzVotes #AzVota #Midterms2018 pic.twitter.com/FTrp9rdbKi
— Molly Duerig (@mollyduerig) November 6, 2018
12:37 p.m.
People are waiting in line to vote, because there’s more people voting today, said Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes.
But some voters have experiences problems with ballot printers and the electronic voting system.
There was a bit of a slowdown in the electronic system at around 11:30 a.m. for about 20 minutes which has since been resolved.
“We’re still looking into why exactly it happened,” Fontes said in a Facebook Live video at noon. “There was a little bit of a concern, because it was a system-wide hiccup. We’re narrowing it down to make sure it doesn’t happen again throughout the rest of the day.”
Theresa Borges said she and her husband tried to cast a #ballot at the 32nd Street and Union Hills Drive location, but also got turned away. She said she doesn’t know where else to go to #vote. Read more: https://t.co/s4bC8yqJh2 pic.twitter.com/N1FEwBnOw7
— Cronkite News (@cronkitenews) November 6, 2018
By 11:50 a.m., more than 127,000 ballots were cast at the polls in Maricopa County, Fontes said during a Facebook Live video.
“Right now, we have tabulated 626,515 ballots as it stands at this moment,” Fontes said. “That will probably be the number that we report. That’s because once we get them tabulated here we have to compile the data and our system is a little old and so it takes a little bit of time to ensure that is all set in there. That may be the number that we put out tonight, although we have received over a million ballots of early voting.”
About 100 people in line to vote at ASU pic.twitter.com/EO3aqdYY3O
— Connor “voted early” Owen (@connormowen) November 6, 2018
Polls close at 7 p.m. in Arizona.
Special election coverage from @kjzzphoenix and @NPR begins at 7 p.m. #midterms2018 #ArizonaElection #ElectionDay
🔊 91.5 FM and https://t.co/PAG1rpP1NP. pic.twitter.com/6RSHYnrGdy
— KJZZ Phoenix (@kjzzphoenix) November 6, 2018
Election results will start to be available on the Arizona Secretary of State’s 2018 General Election website starting at 8 p.m.
PLUS This reminder: There will be hundreds of thousands of uncounted ballots statewide by end of night. We likely won’t know outcome of #AZSEN race, some other statewide races, a few #AZLEG races.
— BrahmResnik (@brahmresnik) November 6, 2018
“At least 75 percent of all the votes cast in Arizona will be by early ballots,” said Chris Herstam, a Democratic political analyst, in an interview on KTAR 92.3 FM.
On Monday, the Secretary of State’s Office said that 1,586,783 early ballots had been turned in, up from the entire 2014 midterm race when a total of 1,537,671 people voted early or at the polls, according to a Capitol Media Services article.
Final early ballot returns of the 2018 general election narrow the gap for Dems by another 0.3%, GOP advantage down to 7.2%. Now we wait and see what day-of turnout looks like. https://t.co/2cHgv3TAfB
— Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) November 6, 2018
Among early voters, 18 to 34 year olds made up the largest number of first time voters, according to the Maricopa County Recorders Office.
Line at the @ASU on campus polling location is growing by the min!! #youthvote is coming out in full force and will make all the difference in this years midterms. @NextGenAmerica AZ team helping keep students in line 💙💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/to6zQVKPJ9
— Belén Sisa (@belensisaw) November 6, 2018
“This is unprecedented. We haven’t seen in Arizona or around the country this enthusiasm around a midterm election,” said Grant Woods, former Arizona Attorney General in an interview on KTAR 92.3 FM. “We’ll see where Arizona stands and where the country stands.”
“What we’ve seen is about a 5 percent bump in party not disclosed and indepdendent (voter) participation,” said Chuck Coughlin, Republican strategist with HighGround.
11:00 a.m.
The #Red for Ed movement put education issues on the front burner in Arizona, said Joe Thomas, president of the Arizona Education Association, in an interview on KTAR 92.3 FM.
“You see more candidates and issues looking through this lens of how this will affect education,” Thomas said.
“It was very difficult what educators did last year,” Thomas said. “It was very courageous.”
While more money for teachers was added to the budget, there is so much more that needs addressing though, Thomas said.
“Class sizes in Arizona are astronomical and they need to be brought down considerably for students to receive the personalized attention they need and deserve,” Thomas said.
“No matter who wins tomorrow. Educators will hold the winners accountable to fund our schools at appropriate levels,” Thomas said.
I voted today for those who may not have a voice, for my students, for women, and for the rights of the people unseen.
Lets rock the vote! ✔️✏️#redfored #rememberinnovember pic.twitter.com/9QYkxzogVL— Joy Hallett (@joy_hallett) November 6, 2018
10:17 a.m.
More than 86,000 voters cast their ballot by 9:50 a.m. in Maricopa County, according to Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes.
The election day turnout in 2016 for the presidential election was about 350,000 over the course of the entire day, Fontes said.
If you still need to vote, click here to find voting locations thanks to the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office.
One polling location in Chandler was closed at Golf Academy of America at Warner and McQueen after the business was foreclosed upon overnight, Fontes told NBC 12 News Phoenix.
Voter Ian Chrissinger said he went to his assigned polling place at the Golf Academy but was told the place had been foreclosed on last night so he could not enter the building or vote. #ElectionDay pic.twitter.com/YGUW4ywuiF
— Cronkite News (@cronkitenews) November 6, 2018
Poll workers were setting up tables in the parking lot for people to vote, but a new polling location for the Gila Precinct opened at Mesquite High School in nearby Gilbert around 10 a.m., according to KJZZ 91.5 FM.
Voters were advised to go to the Chandler City Hall Center at 175 S. Arizona Avenue until issues were resolved, according to 3 TV/ CBS 5 KPHO Phoenix.
“Every election has it’s circumstances and the circumstances in this election are that we had a couple locations not open because of a key problem at a church, we had one forclosure, now all these circumstances are completely ameliorated or ready to go,” Fontes said in a Facebook Live video. “We did have a software issue on some of our ballot on demand printers. We’re getting to the bottom of that right now, but that one’s being resolved completely as well at our vote centers.”
If you run into trouble at the polls in Maricopa County, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office asks that you call (602) 506-2348 or report the issue online.
If you are in another Arizona county, please search online for your county’s recorder office and call them to report it.
9:02 a.m.
Thousands of Arizona voters went to the polls today on election day to vote in the 2018 midterms for candidates for governor, superintendent of public instruction, treasurer, secretary of state, state senators and representatives, candidates U.S. senate and house of representatives, several propositions and school bonds and overrides.
These measures are vital for schools, funding longer-term projects and boosting classroom budgets. https://t.co/N4PIZTyCaQ
— azcentral (@azcentral) November 6, 2018
Election officials said that the majority of ballots were sent in early and they’re expecting a record turnout for a midterm election. If you’d like to check to see if your early ballot was validated click here.
How to check the status of your ballot: https://t.co/ffpj4GLNOE #abc15 pic.twitter.com/flmwX4LokK
— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) November 6, 2018
At the Cartwright Elementary School District Annex, the parking lot was full and several people rested in folding chairs as they waited for their turn to vote. There were a steady stream of voter,s and things looked like they were going smoothly with election volunteers answering voters questions.
A candidate for school board held a sign out in the parking lot and encouraged voters to vote for her.
Other people offered voters information about issues on the ballot.
One woman let people going in to vote know to tell her if they had any issues voting.
After the issues people had voting in the 2016 elections, there will be four federal election officials monitoring elections today.
OK, it’s official. There’s some sort of wave as more Arizonans have now voted early than voted in entire 2014 midterm election. Dems seem to be closing gap with GOP on early ballots but it remains to be seen if that’s enough. https://t.co/DbJWcSA8Ev
— Howard Fischer (@azcapmedia) November 5, 2018