Midterm Elections: What happened in with voting machines in Maricopa County, Arizona?

• About 60 voting machines in Maricopa County had technical problems.
• The problem had to do with the machines’ ability to read the ballots.
• These votes were once they reached the central office.

According to the Maricopa County, Arizona Department of Elections, about 60 voting machines had technical problems. They weren’t accepting the ballot when it was deposited in the tabulator. Technicians determined that the problem consisted of changes in the programming of the printing quality of the ballot.

Representatives from the Maricopa County Elections Department said in messages on social media that this problem was not an obstacle for people to cast their vote and that all those affected could place their ballot in a secure drop box. These votes would be accounted for once they arrive at the central office.

What Happened in Maricopa County, Arizona?

Maricopa County has been in the national spotlight since the 2020 presidential election, due to the emergence there of several conspiracy theories claiming electoral fraud. For his part, former President Donald Trump immediately reacted to the news about the technical problems in Maricopa County, where 60% of the votes in the state of Arizona are cast, saying in a message to his followers: “Here we go again.”

Most of the Republican politicians running for office in the US have run with propaganda promoting the, repeatedly debunked, conspiracy theory that Donald Trump won in 2020. (Filed As: Maricopa County voting machine problems)

A few incidents with voting in the midterms

The midterm elections in the United States took place on Tuesday. Although there were a few issues with voting machines, voting by mail and with two electoral officials in some of the largest constituencies. One of them is Maricopa County, Arizona, the second largest electoral district in the United States, where there were problems with voting machines in some polling places.

The Maricopa Elections Department announced Tuesday that 10% of the polling places were experiencing problems with the voting machines. In a subsequent news conference, county election officials raised the figure to 20%, which would be about 40 polling places. Still, officials stressed that voters can safely deposit their ballots in a box and they will be counted later. (Filed As: Maricopa County voting machine problems)

Maricopa County was already the center of controversy

Maricopa County was already the center of controversy in the 2020 presidential election, where Democrat Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by 45,000 votes. The former Republican president, who posted on Truth Social repeatedly on Tuesday echoing unfounded complaints about the integrity of the electoral process, criticized Maricopa County for being the focus of problems again.

On the other hand, in Fulton County, Georgia, two election officials who were involved the assault on the Capitol in 2021 were expelled from a voting center minutes before it opened. Regina Waller, a spokeswoman for Fulton County, reported at a press conference that a mother and her son «were stripped of their duties due to questionable content on their social networks». (Filed as: Maricopa County voting machine problems)

Laura Kronen and her son were kicked out as poll workers

The spokeswoman did not go into further details, but local media identified the woman as Laura Kronen, who shared a photograph on social media of her participation in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters tried to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as president.

Kronen posted Tuesday on social media that she and her son were fired as poll workers for posting that they were going to «ensure free and fair elections.» Georgia is one of the central points of the mid-term elections since, together with states such as Pennsylvania and Nevada, it could tip the balance of the Senate towards a Democratic or a Republican majority. With information from EFE. (Filed As: Maricopa County voting machine problems)