PHOENIX (AZFamily) – Election officials are still working day after day to count and verify every single ballot.

“You put those ballots through a signature audit and then send them to a bipartisan committee that opens them together. They make sure that the ballot paper is not damaged. They process those ballots and then send them off to be tabulated,” said Gina Roberts, director of voter education at the Arizona Clean Elections Commission.

As of Wednesday evening, the Maricopa County Recorder's Office has processed 1,499,131 ballots, about 57.94% of eligible voters.

The results at that time represented ballots received through Wednesday, October 30.

Although projections have been made for critical races, Arizona law does not allow county officials to announce results until Nov. 11 at the earliest.

“There is a very, very good chance that these vote numbers can change. In fact, we have seen in the past that the media has sometimes had to retract their winning declarations,” Roberts said.

So why is it taking so long for officials to announce a winner? The first batch on Election Day will be early ballots that have already been returned, processed and tabulated before that day.

As the night progresses, poll workers carry out their closing procedures and election results tabulated at polling stations are sent back to the county and published on a regular basis.

After November 5, election officials will process any early ballots returned on Election Day before they can be tabulated.

As with any other early ballot returned before Election Day, the county must verify the voter's identity through signature verification.

For this reason, all early ballots cast on election day can only be processed and tabulated afterwards. This process can take several days depending on how many voters cast their ballots that day.

In addition, counties must conduct their required post-election procedures to confirm the accuracy and integrity of the election. This includes reviewing chain-of-custody records, audit trails, post-Election Day logic, and tabulation machine accuracy testing.

The political parties also carry out a random hand count of the ballot papers.

November 10 is the last day voters can verify their identity if they voted on a conditional, provisional ballot at the polls on Election Day, or verify their signature on the early voting affidavit if the county could not verify their signature and confirm the voter's identity.

The following day is the first day on which counties can hear their elections and officially announce and accept the election results.

At this point, counties will have ten days to select a winner and determine the final results.

In national elections, this process takes even longer.

“After our 15 counties complete this process, they will send their election materials to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. They then hold a public meeting where they combine the results from all of our 15 counties to create the statewide results,” Roberts said.

After that, the Secretary of State's office has until November 25 to collect the statewide election results.

Although this is a lengthy process, Roberts said these laws and procedures are put in place to protect the accuracy and integrity of vote counting.

In the meantime, voters can check whether their ballots were counted by visiting the state's voter information portal.

Valley residents can also track your ballot on the Maricopa County Elections website

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