Maricopa County Recorder Makes Strange Move Amid Controversy Over Arizona’s Slow Ballot Count

Maricopa County, Arizona, Recorder Stephen Richer deleted his X account Thursday with hundreds of thousands of ballots still to be counted.

The county’s slow reporting of election results has raised concerns — particularly among supporters of GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake who is in a very tight race with Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego — that the delay is allowing room for foul play.

Lake was tied with or had taken a slight lead over Gallego in multiple polls going into Tuesday’s election, though Gallego still had a 2.6 advantage in the Real Clear Politics average of polls going back into late October.

However, the RCP average only had Republican Donald Trump ahead in the state by 3 percent, but he currently has a 6.1 percent lead over Democrat Kamala Harris in the actual results.

So the average of surveys underrepresented Trump’s support by around 3 percent. If the same held true for Lake, she would be in the lead over Gallego.

The latest results show Gallego ahead by 1.5 percent, 49.7 to 48.2 percent.

As of Friday morning, The New York Times reported that 77 percent of the votes are counted with hundreds of thousands yet to be tallied.

KNXV-TV data analyst and former Arizona secretary of state election official Garrett Archer posted on X Thursday night that Maricopa County estimates another 472,000 ballots must still be counted.

Arizona allows people to drop off their mail-in ballots until 7 p.m. on Election Day, and hundreds of thousands of people do that, which causes the long tallying process because voters identities must first be verified before the ballot can be counted.

Richer — who lost his re-election bid in the Republican primary to likely County Recorder-elect Justin Heap — explained his decision to delete his X account in a statement to the liberal outlet the Phoenix New Times on Thursday, writing it was a “post election promise to myself.”

“For four years, I tried to answer as many questions as possible and be as accessible as possible,” he said.

“I’ve paid my ticket. I stayed on to make sure I answered as many voter questions as possible through Election Day,” Richer further stated. “I get to do what makes me happy now.”

The recorder came under intense scrutiny when voting machines malfunctioned on Election Day 2022 throughout Maricopa County, and Lake ended up losing her governor’s race to Democrat Katie Hobbs by less than one percent of the vote.

Republicans tend to vote on Election Day more than Democrats in Arizona, particularly in that contest.

Richer was further criticized for co-founding a political action committee with then-chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Bill Gates ahead of the 2022 elections to in effect oppose candidates who aligned with Trump, which Lake had.

Arizona state Republican Sen. Justine Wadsack responded to Richer’s decision to delete his X account, posting on the platform, “Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer has deleted his personal X account. The ballot drops are at a stand still. What is going on?”

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer has deleted his personal X account. The ballot drops are at a stand still.

What is going on?@charliekirk11 @elonmusk @GarretLewis pic.twitter.com/nBzwxBXDJW

— AZ Senator Justine Wadsack (@Wadsack4Arizona) November 7, 2024

Lake campaign co-chair Floyd Brown wrote on X in response to a request for a status update regarding Maricopa County from Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton, “They won’t tell us how many people have voted, much less how they voted. No transparency, no accountability.”

They won’t tell us how many people have voted, much less how they voted. No transparency, no accountability. @TomFitton https://t.co/JcmLiuIcvY

— Floyd Brown (@floydbrown) November 7, 2024

Lake has continued to make gains against Gallego as vote tallies come in from around the state and in Maricopa County where approximately 60 percent of Arizona voters reside.