Maricopa County says new law requiring early ballot tallies delays Election Day results

Maricopa County said a provision of a new law caused a minor delay in reporting Tuesday's election results, and the wait could get a lot longer in the general election.

The big picture: A wide-ranging, bipartisan election law signed earlier this year by Gov. Katie Hobbs requires counties to tally the number of early ballots dropped off at polling places on Election Day before they can be transported to central election centers.

• That means the flash drives that contain results of in-person Election Day votes, which are tabulated on site, must wait for the count before they go to the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC).
• The county brought in more than 400 people to hand-count early ballots on Election Day, recorder's office spokesperson Jennifer Liewer tells Axios.

Driving the news: Maricopa County didn't post its last batch of Election Day results from the primary until 1:15am on Wednesday.

• That's about 30-45 minutes later than would be typical, Liewer says.

Why it matters: The delay may have been relatively small in a primary election that saw about 85,000 early ballots dropped off on Election Day, but it could be far longer for the general election.

• "We could have 300,000 dropped off on Election Day for the general," Liewer tells Axios.

The other side: Rep. Alexander Kolodin (R-Scottsdale), the bill's sponsor, told Axios the provision was meant to alleviate concerns caused by discrepancies between county estimates and official machine counts for the number of early ballots dropped off on Election Day.

• If there's a delay in reporting Election Day votes, Kolodin said it's worth it if it provides more certainty for voters about the number of "late earlies," as such ballots are known.
• He also said he believes other provisions in the law will speed up the counting of early ballots submitted pre-Election Day, giving voters more comprehensive results earlier in the evening.

What's next: Maricopa County has about 98,000 ballots left to count, mostly early ballots that were dropped off in person on Tuesday or arrived in the mail in the final few days of the election cycle.

• Liewer says 95% to 99% of Maricopa County's ballots will be counted by Friday.

Context: Several major races have yet to be called.

• Amish Shah leads the Democratic primary in the 1st Congressional District with 23.9% of the vote.
• Yassamin Ansari leads the Democratic primary in the 3rd Congressional District with 46%.