PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A small number of devices used to check in voters in Maricopa County experienced brief connectivity problems during Tuesday’s primary election, according to a spokesperson for the county elections department.
The issue, however, does not appear to be impacting voting.
The issue was related to Maricopa County’s electronic poll (e-poll) books, which are used to check in voters, confirm their registration status, and provide them with the correct ballot.
“A small number have experienced brief connectivity issues today,” Maricopa County elections spokesperson Jennifer Liewer said in a statement.
The e-poll books are not connected to the internet but to the voter registration database through a secure VPN, according to Liewer. About 99% of Maricopa County’s more than 1,900 poll books are “currently functioning as intended,” and each voting location has multiple e-poll books, she added.
At no point was anyone turned away, and there is currently no wait time at county vote centers, according to Liewer.
In an email Tuesday, Maricopa County District 1 Supervisor Mark Stewart said there were “intermittent AT&T connectivity issues” and that the elections team was “actively working to resolve the problem.”
Officials are still trying to understand the root cause, whether it’s weather-related or something else, according to Stewart. Stewart said he directed county leadership to deploy “redundant connection tools from Verizon at all polling locations.”
“We are making sure teams on the ground know exactly what to do so no eligible voter gets turned away,” he wrote.
Two voting locations, the Wittmann Assembly of God in Wittmann and Friends of Circle City in Morristown, also experienced a power outage around 11:20 a.m.. However, power was quickly restored within the hour, Maricopa County Elections posted on X.
As of noon Tuesday, nearly 30,000 voters had cast a ballot in Maricopa County.
There are 4.3 million registered voters in Arizona, as of the July 2026 primary.
Primary elections tend to have lower turnout. Only about 31% of the 4.1 million registered voters in Arizona cast a ballot in the 2024 primary election, according to data from the Arizona Secretary of State’s office.
Polls are open until 7 p.m.
Voters can drop off mail ballots at a drop box, vote center, polling place, or county recorder’s office.
Arizona 2026 primary election
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