Maricopa County, Arizona, has become the nation’s ultimate swing county, a place that could determine whether Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump will be the next U.S. president. Voters, campaigns and people around the world sometimes must wait more than a week to learn who won the county, and with it, statewide races in the swing state of Arizona. This year, election officials warn it could take as long as 13 days to tabulate all of the ballots in Maricopa. The drawn-out count has made Maricopa County the epicenter of election conspiracy theories spawned by Trump. But the reason it takes so long is simple. The county has more residents than many U.S. states, and races are often close.
