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Maricopa County, Arizona, Recorder Stephen Richer deleted his X account on Thursday, with hundreds of thousands of ballots still uncounted.

The county’s slow reporting of election results has sparked concerns, particularly among supporters of GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake, who is in a tight race with Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego. Critics fear the delay could open the door for potential misconduct.

Heading into Tuesday’s election, Lake was either tied with or slightly ahead of Gallego in multiple polls. However, Gallego maintained a 2.6-point lead in the Real Clear Politics average of polls dating back to late October.

The RCP average had President-elect Donald Trump leading the state by only 3 percent, yet he currently holds a 6.1 percent lead over Democrat Kamala Harris in the actual results.

This suggests that the average of polls underestimated Trump’s support by about 3 percent. If the same trend applies to Lake, she could be leading Gallego.

The latest results show Ruben Gallego leading by 1.5 percent, with 49.7 percent to Kari Lake’s 48.2 percent.

As of Friday morning, The New York Times reported that 77 percent of the votes have been counted, with hundreds of thousands still remaining to be tallied.

Garrett Archer, a data analyst for KNXV-TV and former Arizona secretary of state election official, posted on X Thursday night that Maricopa County estimates an additional 472,000 ballots still need to be counted as of Friday.

Archer went on to explain why it’s taking so long to count ballots in Arizona.

Richer, who lost his re-election bid in the Republican primary to likely County Recorder-elect Justin Heap, explained his decision to delete his X account in a statement to the liberal outlet Phoenix New Times on Thursday. He described it as a “post-election promise to myself.”

“For four years, I tried to answer as many questions as possible and be as accessible as possible,” he said.

“I’ve paid my ticket. I stayed on to make sure I answered as many voter questions as possible through Election Day,” Richer further stated. “I get to do what makes me happy now.”

The recorder faced heavy scrutiny after voting machine malfunctions on Election Day 2022 across Maricopa County, which contributed to Kari Lake losing her governor’s race to Democrat Katie Hobbs by less than one percent of the vote.

In Arizona, Republicans generally have a higher tendency to vote on Election Day compared to Democrats, especially in that particular race.

was effectively aimed at opposing candidates aligned with Trump, including Kari Lake.

In response to Richer’s decision to delete his X account, Arizona state Republican Sen. Justine Wadsack commented on the move. “Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer has deleted his personal X account. The ballot drops are at a stand still. What is going on?” she wrote on the X platform.

Lake campaign co-chair Floyd Brown responded on X to a request for a status update regarding Maricopa County from Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton,  “They won’t tell us how many people have voted, much less how they voted. No transparency, no accountability.”

The post Maricopa County Recorder Makes Odd Move Amid Arizona’s Slow Senate Vote Count appeared first on Conservative Brief.