By Jen Fifield | Arizona Republic
When Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes talks about what went wrong during last month’s primary election, he often says most of the issues stemmed from how the electronic voter check-in systems weren’t set up on time, causing dozens of polling places not to open on time.
When he says this, he hoists most of the blame for the election day problems onto the contractor the Recorder’s Office hired, whose main responsibility was to set up the check-in systems the day before the election.
Results from a survey the Recorder’s Office sent to poll workers reveal that early on election day and throughout the day workers were facing a myriad of issues unrelated to the check-in systems. And the county failed to address those issues quickly, leading to several polling places turning voters away, the results show.
A total of 1,169 poll workers responded to the online survey between Sept. 4 and Sept. 17, according to the results the Recorder’s Office provided The Arizona Republicin response to an Arizona Public Records Law request.
Survey results show that poll workers who staffed locations that couldn’t open on time gave voters very different directions on how to proceed.
The Recorder’s Office backup plan was to send voters to other sites, called vote centers, where any registered voter can cast a ballot. But many poll workers did not do that, according to their survey responses. Instead, they told the voters to wait, to come back later or simply turned them away, according to their survey responses.
Voters encountered long lines at the Tempe Public Library polling place./azcenral viideo
