This browser does not support the Video element.
PHOENIX, Ariz. (KSAZ) - Protesters gathered outside of the Maricopa County Recorder's office Monday calling for Adrian Fontes to resign.
The demonstration comes after several polling problems were reported throughout Maricopa County during the midterm elections. Protestors gathered to claim fraud in the election, and also calling into question emergency voting centers that were set up before the election. These are the same claims made by the Chairman of the State Republican Party Jonathan Lines, who says the GOP is conducting what it calls an audit of the vote counting.
"We're conservatives and very troubled by what was going on in the election," said Nohl Rosen of Wickenburg. "As a voter I believe every vote should count and I believe Adrian Fontes our County Recorder needs to step down from his job and hand it over to someone who knows what they're doing."
The protesters dud not have evidence that Fontes did anything illegal in counting the vote, but they feel something must be wrong.
Fontes responded to the protesters.
"I'm not interested in political games right now," said Adrian Fontes. "We're going to do our job based on what the law says and what's actually required and we're just going to move forward, report out and get ready for our next election."
Protesters, however, insist they are not protesting for political reasons. When asked if she would have attended the protest if GOP candidate Martha McSally had won the race, instead of Democratic candidate Kyrsten Sinema, Kathryn Kobor of Phoenix said, "maybe".
In regards to emergency polling centers, Fontes says they've been used for years, also by Republicans who served as County Recorder, and they are used in other counties across the state.
"I am a big fan of the 1st Amendment," said Fontes. "They can say what they want. Critics are critics. We move on to the next election, do it as well or better than this one."
FOX 10 has reached out, via multiple channels, to the state's Republican Party for comment about the audit it wants of the election, but did not hear back.