Since January, not much has been said publicly about the investigation being led by a former supreme court justice into why so many of Maricopa County’s vote center tabulators could not properly read ballots during last November’s General Election. That could change Monday.
The agenda for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors’ April 10 informal meeting includes an item titled “Review of November 2022 Elections Operations.” The item will be heard during an executive session, a non-public meeting which allows the supervisors to obtain legal advice.
One of those identified on the agenda as “outside counsel” who can attend the closed meeting is former Chief Justice Ruth McGregor. She was selected by the board of supervisors in January to figure out why roughly one percent of the 248,000 ballots cast in-person on Election Day could not be read by vote center tabulators.
To date, all voters have had to go by as to what went wrong back on Nov. 8, 2022, is a report issued by Maricopa County elections officials. But there was a swell of calls for a more in-depth investigation, leading to the arrangement to have McGregor put together a “team of independent experts” to look into the issue.
Election Day ballots in Maricopa County were printed “on demand” for each voter who signed in at one of the county’s 223 vote centers. Various problems were reported early in the morning about an unusually high number of those ballots being rejected by on-site tabulators.
Any ballot which was not tabulated on-site at a vote center was transported to the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) to be counted.
The internal review by county staff found about 30 percent of Maricopa County’s vote centers had problems; some were resolved quickly while others kept ballots from being tabulated on-site for hours. Many of the ballots were found to have “timing” or “alignment” marks that printed too light, which county officials blamed on problems with printer fusers.
The use of ballpoint pens to fill ovals as well as voters who made checkmarks instead of filling the ovals was also identified as a cause of many of the tabulation problems, according to the county’s internal review.
The county’s decision to bring in McGregor was applauded at the time by several voters and election observers, including Sen. Ken Bennett, a former Arizona Secretary of State.
“Nothing is more important than restoring public confidence and trust in our elections,” Bennet said in January. “That won’t happen by having people check their own work. Outside scrutiny is critical.”
Some voters, however, are already casting doubt on any findings put forth by McGregor. They had wanted a truly outside investigation, one not controlled in any way by Maricopa County officials.
Very little has been said since the announcement of McGregor’s probe. The public still does not know who she hired for her team nor how much the investigation will cost county taxpayers.
Another key question is whether her team attempted to recreate the various problems which occurred on Election Day or just worked of the county’s earlier internal review. There is also a question of whether the county’s review included any physical inspections which could have hindered McGregor’s investigation.
It is also hoped she will address questions of whether improper storage of ink cartridges given the cold overnight temperatures in the days before Election Day played a role. And whether the proper cartridges were used for each type of printer.
The agenda for the BOS meeting on April 12 does not include an item related to McGregor’s investigation, but county officials can amend the agenda until Tuesday morning if the supervisors need to take any action on her report.
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