In multiple GOP districts in Arizona, voters were reportedly given sharpie pens to fill out their ballots Tuesday, rather than ball point pens, causing their ballots to be invalidated.
American Conservative Matt Schlapp sounded the alarm on Twitter Wednesday.
AZ update: apparently the use of sharpie pens in gop precincts is causing ballots to be invalidated. Could be huge numbers of mostly Trump supporters. More to come
— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) November 4, 2020
Voters from Maricopa County, Tucson, and Gilbert shared stories about being handed sharpie pens to fill out their ballots.
Jona it is time to contact the lawyers. Call your GOP AG right now. No time to waste https://t.co/56fW6DecGe
— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) November 4, 2020
I had a similar situation happen in Gilbert AZ early voting in person. I also remember receiving an informational mailer advising our machines were recently upgraded to read sharpies & ball point pens. I would recommend those who share experiences call and give your story as well pic.twitter.com/1kkWSExsJI
— ✨ B r e ✨ (@HerHashtagLife) November 4, 2020
Schlapp shared a link where Arizona voters can check the status of their vote:
ARIZONANS – Check the status of your ballot here: https://t.co/EZO6AUFJV9
— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) November 4, 2020
An Arizona voter explained on camera how the poll workers insisted that people fill out the ballots using sharpies. A man who was standing outside handing voters ball point pens, said poll workers actually called the sheriff to stop him from helping voters cast valid ballots.
@realDonaldTrump check this election fraud out in Arizona. pic.twitter.com/6BvPvo63fK
— Marko Trickovic (@marko_t) November 4, 2020
A voter in Michigan said that the same thing happened to her.
This also happened to me in Imlay City, MI.
— Randie Goralski (@RandieGoralski) November 4, 2020
Update:
A spokesperson for the Maricopa County Elections Department told AZ Family that sharpies are the preferred writing utinsil for filling out a ballot.
Erika Flores said voters can use one of three types of writing utensils to cast their ballots: black pens, blue pens, or sharpies.
You read that correctly. Sharpies are allowed. That’s because the new tabulation equipment counts votes in a such a way that bleed-throughs are not a problem.
Not only are Sharpies accepted when filling out a ballot in Maricopa County, they are preferred. That’s because Sharpies have the fastest drying ink.
It wasn’t clear what was causing the ballots filled out with a sharpie to be invalidated.