Arizona’s Republican attorney general has demanded answers from Maricopa County about widespread issues with printers that plagued voting on Election Day, injecting new uncertainty into a fraught post-election dynamic just days before the county is required to certify the results.
The inquiry heightens tensions between Maricopa County and the outgoing Republican attorney general, Mark Brnovich, who placed county officials under investigation after the 2020 election. Brnovich’s office wants answers from county officials before they submit their final election results later this month. His office did not respond to a request for comment.
A four-page document, issued Saturday on letterhead from Brnovich’s office, includes criticism of the county’s administration of the election but no findings that would call the outcome into question. Republican candidates lost the state’s most critical contests, including those for senator and governor.
Starting early on Election Day, printers at 70 of the county’s 223 polling sites produced ballots with ink that was too light to be read by vote-counting machines, county officials have said. That forced voters to wait in line, travel to another location or deposit their ballots in secure boxes that were transferred to downtown Phoenix and counted there.
County leaders have yet to explain what caused the problems, saying they will undertake a comprehensive review once ballot tabulation is complete. But they maintain that no one was denied the right to vote. An Arizona judge came to the same conclusion in denying a request from Republicans to extend voting hours on Election Day in light of the mechanical errors.