Vote tabulating machines at the Cochise County Elections office malfunctioned on Thursday, slowing the vote-counting process, and the County is awaiting a new “loaned tabulator” after they “attempted to use the alternate tabulator,” and it didn’t work either.
“Cochise County elections anticipates that all ballots will be fully tabulated by the middle of next week,” according to a press release.
As of writing, Cochise County has an estimated 27,400 uncounted ballots.
This comes after the Cochise County Elections office in Bisbee, Arizona was evacuated on Tuesday night after the polls closed and vote counting began. It is unclear what, if anything, was done to the machines during this period of evacuation from the elections office.
A source in Cochise County spoke to The Gateway Pundit and questioned what happened when everybody left the building.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes on Tuesday said that four schools “only” in Arizona’s Navajo County, used as polling sites, received “unsubstantiated” bomb threats. Fontes further blamed Russia for the threats and election interference, a typical Democrat talking point. “They’ve been busy lately, I suppose,” Fontes said.
It was later reported that bomb threats were made statewide in Pima and Cochise, leaving questions about how this impacted the vote counting.
This is especially troubling as the two conservative Cochise County Supervisors on the three-member board, Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby, were both indicted last year for refusing to certify the results of the rigged 2022 election in an attempt to ensure accuracy in the vote count. Supervisor Judd pled guilty last month to one Class 3 Misdemeanor count of “Failure or Refusal to Perform Duty by an Election Officer” and is now on probation and could risk violating her plea agreement if she attempts to challenge the results of this election. Supervisor Crosby is still facing charges for refusing to certify the 2022 election.
This comes as Arizona’s slow counting process is expected to last several more days or a week, and the vote totals have increased in the counties of Pima and Yuma:
The main tabulator in Cochise County, Arizona, has a “mechanical malfunction,” which is affecting its ability to count ballots.
“The elections department attempted to use the alternate tabulator; however, it would NOT consistently tabulate the ballots.”
Officials are waiting… pic.twitter.com/0sPiVFkeG8
— George (@BehizyTweets) November 9, 2024
The update from Cochise County Thursday:
The elections results update posted today includes 25,950 ballots tabulated. There remain approximately 34,799 early ballots to process and tabulate, which includes roughly 8,031 ballots that are being processed by the Recorder’s office for signature verification and curing.
Cochise County experienced a mechanical issue with our primary tabulator document tray feed this morning. The elections department attempted to use the alternate tabulator however it would not consistently tabulate the ballots. Due to this issue we opted to not use this tabulator and processed them in the primary tabulator. The mechanical malfunction is slowing down our process of tabulating the ballots however it is not impacting tabulated and posted vote count. Election Systems & Software (ESS) technician is currently traveling to Cochise County and is scheduled to arrive this evening to work on the primary tabulator document tray issue.
Thank you for your continued patience and more information will be provided in tomorrow’s 5pm ballot update.
On Friday, Cochise released another update on Friday:
Regarding the reported tabulation troubleshooting, the issue with the tabulators was related to a feeding tray malfunction rather than a problem with the tabulating process itself. Both tabulators were in use today, although they are operating at a slower pace than normal. Cochise County elections anticipates that all ballots will be fully tabulated by the middle of next week.
In an effort to speed up this process, ES&S is providing a loaned tabulator, which will arrive tomorrow morning. An ES&S technician is already on-site and will remain to assist with setting up and ensuring the new tabulator is operational. Since the loaned tabulator is new, it will require programming, and therefore, an L&A (Logic and Accuracy) test must be conducted by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State’s office is scheduled to arrive Sunday morning at 9:00 AM to carry out the test. Both party chairs have been notified of the scheduled test, and the Board of Supervisors and the Secretary of State are being kept regularly informed about the process.
The Gateway Pundit will continue to provide updates on Arizona’s shady elections and the results of Kari Lake’s race for the Senate.
