Maricopa County breaks ground on 200,000-square-foot tabulation and election center

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors held a groundbreaking for a new 200,000-square-foot tabulation and election center, officials said, a facility they expect will increase ballot-processing capacity, speed results and provide public observation features.

A county official said the building will double current pre-tabulation processing and tabulation capacity and triple warehouse space. "When completed, the new 200,000 square foot facility will double current pre tabulation processing and tabulation capacity and triple warehouse space," the county official said.

County officials said the project aims to allow more work to be done in a single shift by housing more staff and volunteers on site. "Our election facility needs to grow with the growth of our county. This allows more space for our workers, the workers that we have now, but also allow us to, hire more workers and have more volunteers," the county official said. "That means that when more people are working in a building, we'll get through election results faster, but still do it in a safe transparent manner." The official added that being able to operate with fewer shifts could speed tabulation while maintaining procedures.

Officials described features intended to increase transparency for voters, including observation windows, on-site signature verification, comprehensive videotaping and live streaming. "You'll have the ability to sit and observe. We're gonna have all these, high-tech equipment to make sure that we're having everything videotaped and live streamed," the county official said. The official said the second floor will contain "the entire life of the ballot from signature verification all the way through it being counted," and that there will be windows for members of the public to view work on live ballots.

The county official said the building "provides the foundation for the transparency measures that were introduced by Chairman Galvin and Supervisor Lescow," which the speaker said they "wholeheartedly support." The official gave an expected opening timeframe of summer 2027 "in time for the 2028 election cycle." No formal vote or ordinance was recorded in the transcript for this item; the event was described as a groundbreaking and project announcement.

The project is presented as an infrastructure investment intended to change how Maricopa County processes ballots rather than as a change to election law or procedure in the transcript. Specific funding sources, construction contract details, and a project timeline beyond the projected opening month were not specified in the provided remarks.