Maricopa County, Arizona — the most populous county in the state — says there are an estimated 400,000-410,000 remaining ballots to count as of Wednesday night.
Here’s the breakdown according to Maricopa County:
- Estimated Election Day ballots to be counted: 17,000
- Estimated early ballots left to process and tabulate: 239,116
- Estimated number of early ballots left to verify: 143,779
- Estimated provisional ballots left to research: 7,885
More background: Election workers are tabulating ballots in key states that will determine the balance of power in Congress as well as more than three dozen statehouses. Because of differing laws, some states have tallied nearly all their ballots – while others may not finish for several days.
Even before the polls had closed Tuesday, former President Donald Trump and his allies were spreading baseless claims of voter fraud, a repeat of Trump’s lies about the 2020 election being stolen. Yet, elections officials from coast to coast reported few problems at the polls on Tuesday, saying that the election went smoothly beyond isolated and mostly minor problems.
Many eyes are now on Arizona, given the hotly contested Senate and governor races.
In addition to the outstanding count in Maricopa, officials in Pima County said, as of Wednesday afternoon, there were about 23,000 election day ballots left to scan, as well as about 40,000 early ballots and 2,300 provisional ballots.
Counting is also expected to continue Wednesday in Nevada.
Both states feature competitive Senate and gubernatorial races — and have been a hub of conspiracy theories since the 2020 election.
