PHOENIX — Maricopa County officials say election employees photographed inside the county’s tabulation center late at night on Oct. 7 were there to update software used in election operations, not to engage in misconduct. The photos, posted by the Maricopa County Elections Department, show people inside the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center, or MCTEC, at about 10:40 p.m. They circulated on social media over the weekend, prompting questions about why staff were working there after hours. County Supervisor Mark Stewart said he asked the county manager about the visit. He said the people in the photos were Elections Department employees and that county procedures required two people to badge in together. According to Stewart, an employee wanted to complete a software update before a long weekend, with testing scheduled for the following week. He said the equipment being updated was not connected to the internet, so the update had to be transferred using a USB drive. “The tabulators in that room are air-gapped,” Stewart said, explaining why a thumb drive was used. His account of the update and the access procedures was not accompanied in the information provided by independent documentation of the work. Stewart acknowledged that the images could raise concerns. “Obviously, optics on this are horrendous,” he said, adding that Maricopa County faces close scrutiny as it prepares for the fall election. In a statement, the Elections Department said the images had been sent to it by people questioning the employees’ presence. The department said the photos could be used online to suggest wrongdoing, but that was not what happened. Stewart said his office would continue looking into the matter. He also said the county’s elections director had invited representatives of all political parties to observe the process, framing public access and transparency as important to maintaining trust in election administration. His office plans to hold a virtual town hall on Oct. 21 to answer residents’ election-related questions.