PHOENIX (AP) - The Latest on issues at Phoenix-area polling locations during the Arizona primary (all times local):
4:30 p.m.
Leaders in Arizona’s most populous county won’t try to extend voting hours during the primary election after 62 Phoenix-area polling places opened late because of issues setting up equipment.
Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Steve Chucri said in a statement that the board wasn’t notified Monday when the county’s head of elections learned of the problems setting up voting machines.
County recorder Adrian Fontes says he found out Monday afternoon that a contractor didn’t send enough technicians to get the machines going on time.
The Arizona secretary of state called on the county to seek a court order to keep the polls open later.
Chucri says asking a court for an extension would confuse voters, delay returns and have unintended consequences. He says voters should get in line by 7 p.m. and that their votes will still be counted.
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2:30 p.m.
Elections officials say 62 polling locations in the Phoenix area weren’t operational when voting began in Arizona’s primary.
Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes said on his Facebook page that all of the locations were functional as of 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Fontes said earlier that a contractor hired to set up voting machines didn’t send enough technicians and that his staff worked until late Monday to try to get as many going as possible.
The delay resulted in over 100 complaints from voters who couldn’t cast their ballot at their assigned locations.
It came two years after people in the Phoenix area waited hours to vote after the former county recorder drastically reduced the number of polling locations.
That official was ousted from office over the controversy.
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1:35 p.m.
All Phoenix-area polling locations are operational after several closed during Arizona’s primary election because of a problem getting machines set up on time.
Sophia Solis, a spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, said all locations were operational as of about 11 a.m. Tuesday.
It’s unclear exactly how many locations failed to open on time, but elections officials said earlier that four had been shut down Tuesday morning and they had expected about 250 places to have issues.
There are about 750 polling locations in the state’s most populous county, which includes metro Phoenix.
The secretary of state’s office says no issues have been reported elsewhere in Arizona.
County Recorder Adrian Fontes said a contractor hired to set up the machines didn’t send enough people to do the work Monday.
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11:10 a.m.
A contractor hired to set up voting machines in the Phoenix area failed to send enough technicians, leaving several polling places down during Arizona’s primary election.
Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes said Tuesday that his office in the state’s most populous county learned of the issues Monday afternoon. He says he sent his staff to as many locations as possible to make fixes.
Fontes says he had expected up to 250 locations not being operational by Tuesday morning, but only four sites were down by 10 a.m. It’s unclear how many polling places were down when they were supposed to open.
Fontes says the contractor didn’t set up the machines on time. More than 100 calls from voters have reported problems Tuesday.
It comes more than two years after Phoenix-area voters endured hourslong lines after the county cut polling locations.
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