'Twas the night before Election Day, when all through Maricopa County, Arizona, voting officials were working their tails off in order to get 72 polling places set up before morning.
As of 5:45 p.m. Monday evening, Fox 10 reported, 72 of the county's 503 polling places were not ready. Reporter John Hook tweeted that Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes told him there was "no guarantee they will be ready by opening for Election Day. They hope to work through the night to open on time, ready to go."
Fontes was more upbeat at 9 p.m., when he spoke to Fox 10 again. He said several of the 72 sites were now operational, and the public should have "confidence that these sites are all gonna be open tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. for voting." This isn't "some kind of catastrophe," Fontes added, and he expects to see huge crowds on Tuesday "doing their civic duty."
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During the state's primary on Aug. 28, Maricopa County hired a contractor to set up voting machines, but the company didn't send enough technicians, and several polling places across Phoenix could not open at 6 a.m. At the time, Fontes said 62 polling places were affected, but all were up and running by 11:30 a.m. On Monday, Fontes stressed that there are 125 local inspectors setting up the equipment, with the county not relying on outsiders.
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