Maricopa County officials are already
warning against a flood of misinformation
hitting social media surrounding the
election and they warn don't be fooled.
Team 12 Joe Dana was with the county
leaders earlier today and has more
on their last minute warning and the
three myth that they are battling
right now. We've seen election
leaders quit over the last couple
of years because of threats.
This is serious stuff.
The county has fielded 39,000 emails and
taken 40,000 calls during this election,
answering hundreds of questions
on social media. As well,
all related to questions about the election.
No doubt the misinformation campaign
launched by former President Trump and
his endorsed candidates has caused
a mountain of mistrust in elections.
False claim number one,
they warn about circulating online right now,
not having ballots fully counted on election
night equals cheating or incompetence.
Since the 90s ballots
have taken days to count.
We likely won't see full results
for some elections until Friday.
False claim #2 machines
don't count votes accurately.
This was a court case candidates
Kerry Lake and Finchum brought.
A judge ruled there was such
a lack of a basis of a claim,
the case was thrown out.
Remember,
bipartisan teams monitor logic and
accuracy test before and after elections.
Hand counts of a sample of
ballots are conducted as well.
Those hand counts matched
the last two elections 100%.
It is a secure process with
many checks and balances.
False claim #3.
Election workers can change votes,
so if a tabulation machine cannot
read a contest, that ballot.
Reviewed by a bipartisan team,
that team has to agree before
any action is taken.
There is an audit trail
of those ballots as well.
The best advice,
actually let's go ahead and listen to
what election officials had to say first.
Lots of pairs of eyes are on us,
and it's really wonderful.
And if you come down to Maricopa
County's Tabulation Center,
you would see that at no point
are we tabulating without the
participation of the political party.
So the political parties
actually have a role in this.
We cannot even begin to start tabulating
if they are not looking at the
readout on the individual tabulator,
making sure that it's exactly what
it was when they last left off.
This is one of those defining moments
that if we fend it off and we we show
our metal and and we don't waver.
To the false allegations and
and the conspiracy theories and
all the dishonesty that goes on.
And if we don't fight that off now.
That our children will suffer because of it
got published the best advice if you plan to
vote tomorrow earlier is probably better.
The time window between 5:00 and 7:00
PM is likely to be more crowded.
Go to elections.maricopa.gov to get
information about polling centers in your
area or drop boxes around the valley.
There are more than 200 polling
locations and 12 standalone drop boxes.
Also, you can use fast drying pens
which will be provided at the polls.
That misinformation you talk
about maybe the biggest threat to
democracy we have. Absolutely.
Under what circumstances could
the polls wind up staying
open later tomorrow night?
So we could see either a political
party or maybe a voter advocacy
group see something they don't like.
And if they believe that polls
should remain open longer,
they would have to take that to a court.
It would require a judge's
decision to keep polls open.
And I should add about the misinformation.
An elephant in the room today
was Lake Fincham Hamideh,
the top three state election stop top.
Every state GOP candidates have been
giving oxygen to to these conspiracies.
For the last year and a half.
I asked election officials have
they personally asked for a visit
to see how this process works?
Have they personally gone to you in the
last year and a half for questions?
They said a tour was offered
to all candidates,
but these particular candidates declined
to take the tour. Busy day tomorrow,
Joe. It will be busy. Yeah, thanks.
But hopefully for good reasons because
there's lots of voting and a few
problems. Yeah. Alright, thanks.