Republicans, now leading Democrats in early-vote returns, seek an emergency session with election officials in Maricopa County, the state’s largest.
As of Oct. 23, more than 1 million ballots had been cast in Arizona’s early voting, which began Oct. 9; 434,000 ballots came from Republicans, nearly 69,000 ballots ahead of the Democrats’ total of about 365,000, along with another 232,000 “other” returns, according to data compiled by Uplift Campaigns, a media firm that assists Democratic campaigns.
Although Trump said the early totals look promising, he urged fellow Republicans to aggressively get out the vote for the Nov. 5 election. He also said Republicans were remaining vigilant in a state where many Republicans have had concerns over election integrity since 2020, when then-candidate Joe Biden, a Democrat, was declared the winner of Arizona and the presidency.
“We are watching very studiously,” he told rallygoers who filled the 5,000-seat Mullett Arena at Arizona State University in Tempe.
The audience joined Trump as he recited his goal: Making the election vote totals “too big to rig,” referring to the notion of racking up enough legitimate votes to outpace any possible irregularities.
The Grand Canyon State is among a handful of battleground states that could decide the 2024 election. Both Trump and Harris have made multiple campaign stops in Arizona during the past few weeks. Trump had won Arizona by 3.5 percentage points over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 when he also won the presidency.
Hours before Trump took the stage on Thursday, GOP representatives sent a letter seeking an emergency meeting with election officials in Maricopa County, where voters will contend with a four-page-long ballot that they believe could cause a number of issues on Election Day. Maricopa County is home to 4.6 million of the state’s 7.4 million residents, according to the U.S. Census.
In a social media post, attorney Abe Hamadeh, a Republican candidate for Congress said he feared the long ballots and other circumstances are “setting the stage for long lines & chaos on Election Day.”
He also shared a three-page letter that he and Harmeet Dhillon, counsel to the Republican National Committee, sent to Maricopa officials.
The letter expresses concerns that the county’s election plan seems to have underestimated the length of time that voters will need to complete the ballot. In addition, the multi-paged ballot could increase the potential to jam tabulation machines or printers—problems that have occurred previously, the letter said.
To prevent voters from being “blindsided by long lines that may discourage them from casting their votes,” preventive steps could include adding more privacy booths and educating the public about the potential issues.
The Epoch Times asked Jack Sellers, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, to comment on the letter but did not receive an immediate reply to an Oct. 24 email sent outside of regular business hours.
“If we don’t get the Senate, he won’t have anybody appointed to his cabinet,” Rubio said, adding that, if the Senate remains in Democrat control, its leaders likely would begin an immediate attempt to impeach Trump, as they did in 2017.
He urged rallygoers to tell all of their friends and relatives that they must vote for Trump and “they have to stay and vote for all the Republicans on the ticket.”
Gina Swoboda, Arizona GOP chair, inspired the audience before Trump arrived, saying, “Are you ready? …From now until the end of time, the people who come and vote to save this country will be remembered. Are you those people?” she asked, then urged the crowd, “Show me.” People waved signs and cheered to signify their commitment.
