‘Nearly all ballots counted by election night’ is possible, says Maricopa County supervisor

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The frustration with Arizona’s drawn-out elections process is well-known, and one official is hoping to change that.

On Monday, Maricopa County Supervisor Thomas Galvin proposed election reforms that aim to hasten the tabulation process and counting nearly all ballots by election night.

Galvin proposed the following changes:

• Move up the cutoff date for early ballot drop-offs
• Use government buildings to host polling sites
• Eliminate emergency voting for the Saturday and Monday before election day and allow everyone to vote in person

This year, election officials faced several challenges that prolonged tabulation, including two-page ballots, increased voter turnout, and more early ballots being dropped off on election day.

According to current state law, early ballots cannot be counted until election day, and those dropped off on election day cannot be processed and tabulated until after that.

“About 40 to 45 states in the U.S. (have) 95% of their votes tabulated election night. But Arizona is the one swing state that is still counting votes after election day,” Galvin said.

Arizona was the final state called in this year’s presidential election. It took 11 days for the state to finalize ballot counts.

This year’s tabulation process followed the same timeline as previous election cycles. Still, there is growing public concern about the time Arizona takes to count all ballots and call contested races.

“First and foremost, I am grateful to the election staff and community volunteers who have spent countless hours preparing and administering the 2024 election,” Galvin said. ”These dedicated individuals deserve our thanks for following the laws and regulations determined by state leaders. Unfortunately, they bear the brunt of unfounded criticism."

Galvin added that he has participated in conversations with Republican state leaders who agree changes are needed to speed up the process and protect election integrity.

“By moving up the cutoff date for early ballot drop-offs, using government buildings to host polling sites, and eliminate emergency voting for the Saturday and Monday prior to the election while allowing folks to vote in person, we can significantly speed up the process and have nearly 95% of ballots tabulated by election night,” Galvin said. “I urge the Arizona Legislature to make my ’95/1 Plan’ a top priority in 2025 and look forward to working with county and state leaders on these important reforms.”

Galvin represents District 2, which covers much of the northeastern section of the Valley.

This is not the first time a change like this has been suggested. In 2022, Democrat officials argued against similar changes, saying they would rather have more accurate results than faster ones.

“I disagree with folks who say that these proposals will hinder turnout. This is all about modifying behavior, and I know that Arizona voters are really smart and will be able to adapt to the new system,” Galvin said.

Arizona’s Family reached out to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. We are awaiting their responses.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2024 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.