Maricopa Had a Democratic “Heat Map” Too… That Makes It Worse...

by Adam Carter and Tracy Beanz at Uncover DC

Editors Note: This story has been updated. Please click here to read the most recent column.

Richard “The People’s Pundit” Baris recently shared an interesting picture during his podcast—Inside The Numbers (Episode 307)—and in his Locals.com community. The photograph was one he took while inside the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) soon after the recent Arizona midterm election. It showed a “Heat Map” reportedly hung on the wall inside the vote counting center titled:

General Election 2020 In-Person Republican Vote Dot Density
Election Day and Early Vote Sites | Metropolitan Maricopa, Arizona

Baris explained what made this map so problematic on the episode of Inside The Numbers.

Baris noted he did not personally observe a comparable map showing expected turnout from Democrats, Independent, or 3rd party voters anywhere else in the facility—the blue shaded map partially pictured to the right were locations of early vote drop-off/vote drop boxes as he recalls.

First and foremost, election officials would have no valid reason to need to track where voters would be expected to turnout by party. Maybe a case could be made election officials might want to know information about total voter turnout in order to best allocate their resources, but there is absolutely no good reason for the partisan break up—especially for just one party.

Richard Baris is a longtime political pollster and campaign consultant who…