Arizona Is One of the Slowest States in the Nation at Vote Counting, but Why Is That?

The 2024 election results are not really in question, but many have noticed that Arizona is still counting its votes. The state is typically one of the slowest in the nation when it comes to election results coming in, and this has been the case for several election cycles.

Given that Arizona is almost always pretty slow, many wanted to know why Arizona can't count its ballots more quickly. Here's what we know about why Arizona counts ballots so slowly.

According to The Arizona Republic, Arizona takes so long to count votes because of the number of different options it offers to voters. They can get a mail-in ballot and return it in the mail, or via a ballot dropbox, or take it in person to an early voting location.

There are also apparently plenty of Arizona voters who forget that they have mail-in ballots and eventually realize that they forgot to turn them in.

These voters take their already filled-in ballots to their local polling place to turn them in instead of waiting in line to vote. Ballots that are dropped off on the day of the election take time to count, in part because the signatures on them have to be verified, and sometimes those ballots have to be cured, which can take up to five days.

On top of the various methods that Arizonans can use to turn in their ballots, the elections are also usually very close.

Close elections often trigger automatic recounts, and even when they don't, they have to be carefully tabulated to ensure that the result is the correct one. That's why, in combination with the various ways you can turn in a ballot, Arizona elections can take such a long time to call. This year, hundreds of thousands of ballots have yet to be counted, and Maricopa County expects that the counting could take at least 10 days.

Because elections are so close and often so pivotal, there are those in Arizona who want to take steps to make counting ballots in the state more quickly. One change that is being contemplated is that Arizona could require all mail-in ballots to be returned before Election Day. This would make counting ballots faster, but would eliminate a convenient option that many people have taken advantage of.

It's unclear whether that change will actually happen, or whether it's something that people will simply keep suggesting after every election cycle.

One additional change is already happening in 2026 that should speed things up, at least to some extent.

Anyone who drops their ballot off on Election Day will be able to show their ID, open the ballot, and feed it into the ballot counting machine themselves. That change will likely save hours, but in Arizona, the process of counting ballots will still take several days.