Maricopa County: Blake Masters, Kari Lake, RNC sue after 'hiccups' at Arizona voting locations
GOP lawsuit alleges 'hiccups' decreased voters' opportunity to cast ballots; ask polls to remain open until 10 pm on Election Day
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The campaigns for Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters and the Republican National Committee are suing Maricopa County, Arizona, over issues with voting tabulation machines.
The GOP lawsuit seeks to keep polls open until 10 p.m. MT in the county. It also asks the state court to "instruct the inspector at every polling location that voters whom the e-pollbook have recorded as having previously voted in this election must be permitted to complete and cast a provisional ballot."
Fox News previously reported Tuesday that many polling sites in the county were experiencing problems.
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Bill Gates, chairman of the Maricopa Board of Supervisors, speaks about voting machine malfunctions at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center on Nov. 8, 2022, in Phoenix. (John Moore/Getty Images)
"Unfortunately, we've had some hiccups with about 20% of these tabulators," chairman to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Bill Gates told Fox News.
The GOP lawsuit said the issues hit "at least 36% of all voting centers."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gates said the issue happened when people tried to run their ballots through a tabulator but had the ballots spit back out at them.
After the lawsuit was filed, Gates said it would not impact county operations unless officials hear from the court.
The Republican group behind the lawsuit also asks the court to "instruct the inspector at every polling location that voters who choose to spoil their ballot and leave the voting center without casting a ballot must be ‘checked out’ in the electronic pollbook."
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Tabulation center officials said earlier Tuesday they'd found a solution to the issue.
Voters experience significant delays on Election Day at polling places because of issues with vote tabulators, Republicans allege in a lawsuit. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
"Maricopa County has identified the solution for the tabulation issues at about 60 vote centers, county technicians have changed the printer settings, which seem to resolve the issue," one official said. "It appears some of the printers were not producing dark enough timing marks on the ballots."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But the GOP lawsuit alleges that the so-called "hiccups" effectively decreased voters' opportunity to cast ballots – and that the county needed to fix that by keeping polls open.
Maricopa County, Arizona, Supervisor Bill Gates said Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, the county has experienced "hiccups" with vote tabulators at 20% of polling places, saying people's ballots will still be counted. (Fox News Channel)
"Arizona law guarantees that all qualified electors be afforded a continuous period of thirteen hours in which to cast a ballot in-person on Election Day," the suit said. "By preventing voters from obtaining and casting a ballot within a reasonable period of time, these pervasive tabulator malfunctions have effectively truncated the 13-hour voting period secured by state law."
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Polls in Arizona are scheduled to close at 7 p.m. MT.
Fox News' Caitlin McFall and Austin Westfall contributed to this report.