Arizona election results: 524,633 early, provisional ballots yet to be counted

PHOENIX - Secretary of State Ken Bennett said Friday there are an estimated 524,633 early and provisional ballots that have yet to be counted in Arizona.

The uncounted early ballot count was 352,437, and 172,196 provisional ballots were remaining.

The number as of Thursday was at 631,274.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona said there's "grave concern" about the number of uncounted ballots statewide and is demanding that an investigation be done.

Bennett said accuracy is more important than speed and this year is like any other election season.

Political experts Mike O'Neill and ASU professor Rudy Espino both told ABC15 that while the numbers of outstanding ballots seems surprising, and is a bit more than normal, they don't think that indicates a flaw in the process.

"It shouldn't be of over-riding concern," said Espino. "One possible reason is that we had a lot of people voting by mail-in ballot and were given provisional ballots. Our recorders offices around the state may need to have better contingencies in place."

Espino also said that the Arizona process is one that is actually favored by election experts. In Arizona, votes are tabulated two ways, first electronically and then verified by hand.

Espino said the bigger concern is if people were given provisional ballots when they should not have been. Those are the votes that would risk not getting counted since those voters have five days to present identification for their vote to be counted.

Arizona's counties have until Nov. 16 to verify and process the remaining early and provisional ballots. A state canvass to certify official election results for federal, statewide and legislative races is scheduled Dec. 3.

Voters who had insufficient identification when they went to a polling place were allowed to cast a "conditional provisional" ballot.

They have until Nov. 14 to return to their county elections office with proper ID.