Officials in Maricopa County say it will take 10 to 13 days to count ballots for upcoming election

Election officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, announced that it will likely take 10-13 days to tabulate all the ballots cast in the upcoming presidential election next month. 

"We do expect that it will take between 10 and 13 days to complete tabulation of all of the ballots that come in, but we ask for the community's patience," Deputy Elections Director Jennifer Liewer said, according to 12News, the local NBC affiliate.

"We want to make sure that this is a secure process, but we also want to make sure that it is an accurate process," she continued. 

A little over two million people in Maricopa County are expected to vote in the presidential election in two weeks and over 400,000 people have already voted early.

According to 12News, election officials have had to increase staffing and add more high-speed tabulators due to the large number of early voters. Assistant Maricopa County Manager Zach Schira said that voting early or by mail would help get results quicker on election night, the outlet reports. 

"If I have one message for voters here today, it is this: that the longer ballots and higher interest in this 2024 general election will create longer lines on election day, and that's okay," Schira said. 

Maricopa County had issues with voting machines in the 2022 midterm elections, resulting in multiple lawsuits being brought by former GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and America First Legal. 

"It will take 10-13 days after Election Day to complete the tabulation of all ballots. Depending on how close races are, the contests may be called much earlier than that," Liewer told Just the News in an emailed statement.