Maricopa County certifies returns for Special Congressional District 7 primary; turnout under projections

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the county canvas for the July 15 Special Congressional District 7 primary election after an electoral presentation by county elections staff.

Scott Jarrett, Maricopa County elections director, told the board that the special primary covered a small portion of the multi-county district inside Maricopa County and that about 59,000 registered voters in CD7 live in the county. Jarrett said turnout in Maricopa County’s portion of the district was just under 12%, lower than the 20–30% projection he had discussed earlier. “We had just shy of 12% turnout,” Jarrett said.

The presentation to supervisors included a breakdown of how voters cast ballots: 74% of county ballots were returned by mail (5,287 ballots), 18% were returned as early in-person or drop-off (1,251), and 5.84% were election-day in-person (413 ballots). Jarrett said 4 provisional ballots were counted and that the county adjudicated 158 write-in or unclear ballots through a bipartisan adjudication board. He also reported 43 early ballots had signatures flagged as not matching and 13 early ballots had no signature on the envelope; the recorder’s office contacted those voters during the cure period.

Jarrett described post-election reconciliation steps that are part of the canvass, including chain-of-custody reviews, vote-center audits and hand counts performed to statutory requirements. He said the parties’ appointed observers performed statistically required hand counts and found zero variances with tabulator totals. He also noted one tabulator later failed a post-election logic-and-accuracy check; election staff isolated the unit and used a spare tabulator so the statutory post-test remained compliant and the election totals matched.

Supervisor Debbie Lesko, who observed the process, described training and on-site procedures she had reviewed and praised poll workers and the county’s chain-of-custody procedures. Jarrett said the department retains spare tabulators and a rapid-response technical team to replace equipment during elections, and that current equipment holdings and the recent budget allocation position the county to implement on-site tabulation of early ballots in 2026 as allowed by state law.

After questions from board members, Vice Chair Brophy McGee moved approval of the canvas and the board carried the motion unanimously by voice vote.

The county will forward its certified results and precinct-level reports to the Arizona Secretary of State as part of the statewide canvass process.