Maricopa County Recorder Makes Odd Move Amid Arizona’s Slow Senate Vote Count

Stephen Richer, the Maricopa County Recorder, deleted his X (formerly Twitter) account on Thursday, while a substantial number of ballots remain uncounted. This slow pace of reporting has raised concerns, particularly among GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake's supporters, as she competes in a close race with Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego. Critics worry that the delay might create opportunities for misconduct.

Before Tuesday's election, polls indicated Lake was either tied with or slightly leading Gallego. Yet, Gallego held a 2.6-point advantage in the Real Clear Politics (RCP) polling average from late October. Interestingly, the RCP average also showed President-elect Donald Trump leading in Arizona by just 3 percent, but his actual margin against Democrat Kamala Harris currently stands at 6.1 percent. This discrepancy suggests that polling may have underestimated Trump’s support, a pattern that, if mirrored in Lake’s race, could imply she’s ahead of Gallego.

The latest reported results show Gallego leading by 1.5 percent, with 49.7 percent of the vote to Lake’s 48.2 percent. As of Friday morning, The New York Times reported that 77 percent of votes had been counted, leaving hundreds of thousands yet to be tallied.

Garrett Archer, a data analyst at KNXV-TV and former Arizona election official, stated on X that as of Friday, Maricopa County still needed to count an estimated 472,000 ballots. Archer also provided insight into why the count is taking time.

Richer, who lost his primary re-election bid to Justin Heap, explained his departure from X in a statement to the Phoenix New Times, calling it a "post-election promise to myself." He noted, "For four years, I tried to answer as many questions as possible and be as accessible as possible. I’ve paid my ticket. I stayed on to make sure I answered as many voter questions as possible through Election Day. Now, I get to do what makes me happy."

Richer faced significant scrutiny after voting machine issues on Election Day 2022 affected Maricopa County, where Kari Lake narrowly lost the gubernatorial race to Democrat Katie Hobbs. Historically, Republicans in Arizona tend to vote in person on Election Day, which played a role in this specific race.

State Republican Senator Justine Wadsack commented on Richer’s exit from X, questioning the status of ballot processing: “Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer has deleted his personal X account. The ballot drops are at a standstill. What is going on?”

Floyd Brown, co-chair of the Lake campaign, responded to a request from Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton on X, stating, “They won’t tell us how many people have voted, much less how they voted. No transparency, no accountability.”