Voting locations in Arizona’s Maricopa County didn’t close early unexpectedly, despite claims online
FILE - A voter casts their ballot at a secure ballot drop box at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix, Nov. 1, 2022. The Associated Press on Monday, Nov. 13, 2023 reported on social media posts misleadingly claiming that voting locations in the county closed early without notice on Election Day last week. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
CLAIM: Voting locations in Maricopa County, Arizona closed early without notice on Election Day.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: Missing context. Seven drop-box locations out of the county’s 45 election sites closed earlier than 7 p.m. on Nov. 7. The closings were all scheduled and posted on the county’s election website, although some of its public messaging suggested all boxes would be open until 7 p.m.
THE FACTS: Social media users are claiming voters in Arizona’s Maricopa County were greeted with locked doors and shuttered buildings when they attempted to cast their ballot in Tuesday’s election.
Many are sharing a video in which three voters are interviewed outside an election location after discovering that it was already closed. An interviewer who is off camera and not visible says the location is the Paradise Valley Unified School District office in Phoenix.
“I came to vote because it was supposed to be open until 7, but it is 5:19 p.m. and it’s closed already, so I guess I’m just going to throw away my ballot now,” says one voter seated in her car outside the office.
“Maricopa County - They Rigged the Elections Again!” wrote one user who shared the roughly two-minute clip on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Recorders Office Told Voters they Could Vote til 7pm - Doors Closed at 4:30.”
But the school district office’s earlier closing didn’t come out of the blue, as social media posts claimed. The operating hours were announced months ahead of the election.
The site also wasn’t a place where voters could cast a ballot in this week’s election. It was a ballot drop-off site where residents could submit their completed forms.
“Nothing closed ‘early’ on Election Day,” Jennifer Liewer, deputy elections director for Maricopa County, wrote in an email. “They closed at their regularly scheduled time, which had been publicized since Sept. 21.”
All locations where people could cast a ballot in-person remained open until 7 p.m, she added. The Paradise Valley school district office was one of seven drop box sites that were scheduled to close before then.
Voters who mistakenly ended up at the Paradise Valley Unified School District office could have still gone to the nearby Sunset Canyon Elementary School, which is operated by the district and located less than 3 miles away from its office, Liewer noted.
Mat Droge, a spokesman for the school system, confirmed the district office drop box closed at 4:30 p.m., in keeping with the office’s normal work hours, but the elementary school location remained open until 7 p.m. for those looking to drop off a ballot or cast one in person.
To be sure, some of the county’s messaging ahead of the election didn’t make it clear that some sites would close early.
“Ballot replacement centers and drop boxes will be open from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m.,” read an Elections Department press release.
But Liewer argued that detailed information about each location was clearly spelled out on the county’s election website.
“There were 45 sites on election day and this was the most effective way to inform voters about where to go,” she wrote in an email. “Even if we had said, ‘some ballot drop boxes will close early,’ we would have still sent people to the website to learn where to go.”
Technically, there was no in-person voting Tuesday as all eligible voters were sent ballots to their homes, which they could return by mail or submit in person at a designated drop box location, according to the county elections office.
But a resident could seek a replacement ballot and cast it in person if their original one was damaged for some reason.
The election primarily involved local issues, with six cities and 23 school districts weighing bond questions seeking voter approval for spending on public projects and other measures.
___
This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
