Clock ticking as votes continue to be counted in Maricopa County

PHOENIX - In Maricopa County, there are still about 90,000 ballots that need to be counted as of Nov. 6, three days following Election Day.

Election workers will be counting through the weekend, and they have been non-stop this week.

As Trump supporters continue to rally outside the Maricopa County Elections Office for a third straight night on Nov. 6 to demand that their votes be counted, there was a calm focus inside the building, with election workers moving at a pace like never before.

"Like in 2016, the total participation we had already surpassed that the weekend before Election Day," said Maricopa County Elections Department Spokesperson Erika Flores.

Officials say more than 2 million voters in Maricopa County cast a ballot in the General Election, and election workers are facing a deadline to count the ballot.

Besides the remaining ballots, there's also 5,000 early ballots that need signature verification. The relevant Arizona law allows up to one week after Election Day to get them verified. 

In addition, Maricopa County also has 15,000 more provisional ballots to count

"Those provisional ballots, for example, where someone went on Election Day and didn’t bring the proper identification to us, so then they have to provide the proper identification, so then we can count those," said Flores.

It's been a long week for election officials who have repeatedly had to explain the approved use of sharpies on ballots, taking on claims of voter fraud, as well as facing potential legal battles brought up by the Republican National Committee in multiple states, including Arizona.

Secretary of State Katie Hobbs is shutting it all down.

"They have absolutely no evidence of anything that would create a basis for any kind of legal claim at this point," said Hobbs. "They are really grasping at straws."