‘Intermittent AT&T Connectivity Issues’ At Maricopa County Polling Sites as Federal Monitors Deployed To Three Arizona Counties 

The U.S. Department of Justice deployed election monitors to three Arizona counties during Tuesday’s primary election as Maricopa County officials reported brief connectivity problems affecting a small number of electronic poll books at voting locations.

The Justice Department said personnel from its Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona were monitoring polling sites in Maricopa, Apache and Pima counties. The department said the effort was intended to promote transparency, ballot security and compliance with federal voting laws.

Election officials in all three counties sent letters granting federal personnel credentials to observe voting procedures at selected polling locations, according to the department. The Justice Department announcement did not attribute the monitoring deployment to the connectivity problems reported Tuesday in Maricopa County.

“The Department of Justice today continues to monitor elections consistently and in a uniform fashion nationwide, ensuring our elections are safe and secure,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said in the announcement. “Transparent election processes and election monitoring are critical tools for safeguarding our elections and ensuring public trust in the integrity of our elections.”

“We appreciate Arizona’s cooperation in these important procedural safeguards,” Dhillon added.

Good morning! @CivilRights @TheJusticeDept election monitors are fanning out in Maricopa, Apache, and Pima counties for the Arizona primary today. ALL citizens and ONLY citizens should get out and vote in federal races today, feeling confident that the government is here to help!

— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) July 21, 2026

U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine for the District of Arizona said his office was leading the federal monitoring effort.

“Our democracy depends on free and fair elections,” Courchaine said. “My office is pleased to be leading efforts to ensure election integrity for Arizona voters. Today’s monitoring effort is a critical piece of that.”

The Justice Department said its Civil Rights Division regularly sends personnel to monitor elections for compliance with federal laws, including the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act, Help America Vote Act, Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and Civil Rights Acts.

The California Globe reported July 9 that the Justice Department planned to monitor at least 15 jurisdictions in Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Virginia during upcoming primary elections. Dhillon identified Maricopa, Apache and Pima counties as the Arizona jurisdictions at that time.

Replying on X to a post from Dhillon, Merissa Caldwell, co-founder of EZAZ.org, wrote that Maricopa County’s voting-location website had been unavailable during part of the morning and experienced glitches throughout the day. California Globe independently encountered malfunctions while using the website’s address-lookup feature. Caldwell also cited an unverified report that one voting location printed multiple ballots for voters without spoiling the additional ballots and said East Valley locations were experiencing connectivity problems.

Maricopa County’s public statements did not address the allegation concerning multiple printed ballots.

Separately, Maricopa County elections officials said a small number of electronic poll books experienced brief connectivity issues during Tuesday’s voting. The devices are used to check in voters, confirm registration information and provide each voter with the appropriate ballot.

“A small number have experienced brief connectivity issues today,” Maricopa County Elections spokeswoman Jennifer Liewer said in a statement.

Liewer said the electronic poll books are connected to the county’s voter-registration database through a secure virtual private network. Maricopa County’s description of its voting equipment says the electronic SiteBooks perform real-time checks of voter eligibility and voting history through proprietary software and a VPN connection.

Approximately 99 percent of the county’s more than 1,900 electronic poll books were functioning as intended, Liewer said. Each voting location had multiple devices available, and county officials reported that no voters were turned away because of the problem.

Maricopa County District 1 Supervisor Mark Stewart said officials were experiencing “intermittent AT&T connectivity issues” and were investigating whether weather or another cause was responsible.

I am aware of intermittent AT&T connectivity issues at a limited number of polling locations. We are trying to understand the root cause, weather or something else.

I am communicating with staff, and our elections team is actively working to resolve the problem.

I directed…

— Mark Stewart Maricopa County Supervisor District 1 (@MarkStewart_AZ) July 21, 2026

Stewart said he directed county leadership to deploy redundant Verizon connection equipment at polling locations.

“We are making sure teams on the ground know exactly what to do so no eligible voter gets turned away,” Stewart said.

Two rural voting locations also lost electrical power at approximately 11:20 a.m., according to Maricopa County Elections. Power was restored within an hour at Wittmann Assembly of God in Wittmann and Friends of Circle City in Morristown.

Nearly 30,000 voters had cast ballots in Maricopa County by noon Tuesday, according to county figures reported by Arizona’s Family.

The July 21 primary includes federal, statewide, legislative and local races. Maricopa County operated 236 vote centers from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m.

The Justice Department said its Civil Rights Division will continue receiving questions and complaints concerning possible violations of federal voting-rights laws through the Nov. 3 general election. Members of the public may also ask the department to consider monitoring a particular jurisdiction by contacting the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section.