An elections worker scans mail in ballots at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center on Nov. 7, 2022. Photo by Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
For the first time in nearly 20 years, voters in Maricopa County will cast their votes on a two-page ballot and election officials say they’re ready, even if that means everything is now double.
“It is an enormous amount of work to do in a very short time,” Maricopa County Director of Elections Scott Jarrett told reporters Wednesday. “This is the Super Bowl of elections, and we are ready.”
There are some 13,572 different ballots in the county, and the average one will include 79 contests, including the presidential race, positions on local school boards, seats in the state legislature as well as judicial retention. The last time voters have been given a two-page ballot was in 2006, when there were 19 ballot measures .
Jarrett told reporters that, while much of the focus on why the ballot has become so long this year has been on the large number of ballot propositions, most of which were sent by lawmakers to avoid Gov. Katie Hobbs’ veto pen, there are other reasons for the length.
One of those reasons, he said, is a rise in third-party candidates. Maricopa County voters will see third-party candidates in more contests than in previous election cycles, creating more information that needs to fit on the ballot itself.
Still, Jarrett conceded that the biggest reason for the lengthy ballot is the ballot propositions, which have to include language explaining each proposition to voters.
Republican lawmakers are responsible for 11 of the ballot propositions , the largest number of legislative referrals since 1984, when legislators sent 13 measures to the ballot . Maricopa isn’t alone either in the two-page ballot: Nine of Arizona’s 15 counties will have a two-page ballot.
In Maricopa, the ballots also will vary in length depending on which precinct a voter may be in. While it will still be two pages, the number of issues being voted on will vary. For example, the longest ballot is for the Lonesome voting precinct in west Phoenix, while the shortest is the Desert Oasis precinct in northwest Maricopa County.
Earlier this year, prior to the primary election, the county conducted a mock election to stress test their equipment on the possibility of a two-page ballot. That mock election, a first of its kind for the county, helped elections officials understand where bottlenecks in the system occur, Jarrett said.
The two biggest bottlenecks they discovered were the voting booth itself and the on-site tabulators. Voters will take longer in the voting booth to complete a two-page ballot, and care needs to be taken with on-site tabulation to ensure voters don’t insert in the pages too quickly, which causes jams and other issues.
Due to some of these anticipated issues, the county said it is increasing the number of tabulators at certain sites from two to three. And 13 voting centers that are expected to have higher voter turnout will have three tabulators.
“I am fairly confident in the model that we’ve built on,” Jarrett said, adding that “lines are normal. They are not unusual.”
During the 2022 midterm elections, some areas experienced long lines due to issues with on-site ballot printers at 70 polling locations. Those printing errors caused tabulators to reject some ballots. Voters were then told to put their ballots in a secure drawer for later tabulation at county headquarters. Those ballots were still counted, and the printers have all been replaced by the county.
During their tests and mock election, the county discovered that inserting the two-page ballot back to back created issues with the tabulator jamming, meaning a voter would have one page tabulated and another would have to be put aside to be tabulated later. However, Jarrett said that additional training, as well as signage on the tabulators notifying voters to wait to put in their second page, will hopefully prevent that from becoming a major issue.
Another possible issue the county is hoping to get ahead of by implementing voter education campaigns is how the two-page ballot impacts early voters. A voter in theory could send only one of the two pages and their vote would be counted, just not on all the races. If a voter wanted to try to send a second page that was left out after the fact, they would be unable to.
Additionally, Jarrett spoke of a scenario in which voters in a family that live in different places in the county may fill out their ballots together and mix up which one goes in which envelope. In that scenario, the ballots would not be counted.
Jarrett stressed the importance for voters to understand that they need to send both pages when voting early. Currently, the counties are waiting on guidance from the Secretary of State’s Office on how to best notify voters of this possible issue should their vote not be counted, Jarrett said.
With the doubling of the ballot comes a doubling of the workload.
Jarrett said the county has expanded its workforce and that it will be implementing night shifts in order to get results out by the deadlines mandated in state law. Maricopa will have approximately 14 days to tabulate, do post-election testing and file reports on the results — all while dealing with potential recounts and other issues.
Jarrett said that the county has bought new tabulation equipment for the central processing center that is faster than the ones used in previous elections, and they’ve also doubled the number of adjudication stations, where bipartisan teams of elections officials and observers resolve issues with ballots that can’t be read by the tabulators.
As in every election, results won’t be finalized on election night. When counting stops on Nov. 5, the results won’t include ballots deposited that day in drop boxes or last minute mail-in ballots.
Jarrett said that they are strongly encouraging people to vote early in order to help make for a smoother Election Day and to enable the county to more effectively and accurately count ballots.
“We have the staff, we have the skills, we are ready,” Jarrett said when asked how staffing might impact the election results.
Counties across the country have been seeing a drain in election workers as threats against them continue to skyrocket, especially in Maricopa County where conspiracy theorists have focused much of their attention.
The county has also increased the number of vote centers from 147 in 2022 to 246 for 2024.
Jarrett said he expects that lines will average between 15 to 20 minutes, but some areas could see wait times as long as an hour at busy times. But Jarrett stressed that voters at those locations could go to a different nearby vote center if they need to vote faster.
Those who anticipate voting early can also learn about what exactly is on their ballot on the county website so they are prepared if they chose to vote in person on election day. Voters who want to ensure they are on the early mailing list or check their voting registration status can go to BeBallotReady.Vote .
Early ballots for the general election will be sent to voters on Oct. 9.
***UPDATE: This story has been updated to show that there will be 13,572 different styles of ballots in Maricopa County.
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