A voter casts her ballot in a drop box at the Maricopa County Voting and Tabulating Center on November 7, 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Justin Sullivan | beautiful pictures
Officials from Arizona’s most populous county, which will help decide some of the most closely watched midterm election races in the country on Tuesday, aim to allay concerns about misinformation and security Election day on Monday.
Key county officials denied misinformation about vote counting spread on Twitter, among other platforms. County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates said misinformation “really kicks in” late last week.
“We’re here in Maricopa County, we have Maricopa County residents trying to do the right thing and understand what the truth is, and a lot of this misinformation is being spread by people who don’t even know what the truth is. live here in Maricopa County,” Gates said. “But for one reason or another, they want to distract and they want to create problems with our election.”
Over the past two years, Maricopa County has stepped up efforts to combat misinformation, which has particularly affected the region. Following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, former President Donald Trump falsely blamed voter fraud in several counties around the country, including Maricopa. President Joe Biden won the county with more than 45,000 votes as Arizona helped mark his election victory.
The following year, the Republican Party threw out nearly $7 million audit in the county to ensure the validity of the 2020 election results. The audit discovered an even larger margin of return. win for Biden and remove fraudulent claims.
The county is now being watched by the nation as it faces growing threats to election workers, intimidation of voters in drop box and concerns about misinformation surrounding midterms. Maricopa will help decide control of the US Senate, as Democratic Senator Mark Kelly tries to defend his seat against Republican challenger Blake Masters in the party-divided room.
The nation has also watched the race for governor of Arizona, where Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs faces Republican Kari Lake, a leading proponent of false election fraud claims Trump’s mistake.
Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said the county is “committed to protecting free voting in a republic.”
“Anyone out there intending to sabotage this effort, create fear, intimidate the good men and women who are trying to facilitate this process, you’re going to have to go through us to Go there and that won’t happen on our track,” he said.
Penzone, who is also a member of the Safe and Secure Elections Commission, a bipartisan election organization that includes local election officials and law enforcement, also warned elected officials should use their platform wisely.
“Your words matter. And if you choose words that incite violence, you will also be listed on the crime reports,” he said. “Don’t think that your words alone can’t get you in trouble, because they can.”
As of Monday morning, the Maricopa County recorder’s office had received 974,760 early voting packets and verified signatures of 965,000 of them, according to Stephen Richer County Recorder. Despite the misinformation and misinformation, Richer is confident his office has built the confidence of voters.
“The goal of the county, having done this for two years, is that because of the positive information we’ve released and because we continue to be firm in addressing these claims and finding that there are no no claim is correct, so people will trust the process,” he said.
Gates also commented that increased interest in the Maricopa County election is an indication of the state of democracy in the county and in the country at large.
“This isn’t really about us. It’s about what’s going on in general,” Gates said. “The reality is that we have not only reporters from the US but from around the world who are interested in our democratic republic, about what happened with our election. “
