The fate of about 3,000 ballots cast in Maricopa County on Saturday and Monday at five polling places dubbed "emergency vote centers” is up in the air after the state Republican party threatened a lawsuit.

The Arizona GOP sent a letter to all county recorders Sunday questioning the legality of some emergency voting practices.

The Maricopa County Recorder's Office offered "emergency voting" from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Monday for voters who could not make it to the polls on Election Day. The Recorder's Office said it allowed voters to determine what constitutes an emergency.

This is the first year Maricopa County has offered emergency voting, but other counties have offered the extra polling hours for years.

In its letter, the AZ GOP argued that state law does not allow recorders to offer early voting after the Friday prior to Election Day except in specifically-defined emergency situations. It asked the counties to "identify and segregate all ballots" cast at emergency vote centers.

It's unclear at this point whether that means the ballots would be counted.

Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, said he is following the advice of his attorneys but declined to say what that advice was. He would not confirm whether the office is complying with the request and separating the ballots.

But, he said, "I will do everything in my power to make sure that those votes get counted."

“I’m very confident," he said.

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What the law says

State law says that early voting must end at 5 p.m. on the Friday preceding the election.

But, state law also allows for emergency voting, "in the manner prescribed by the county recorder," if that emergency occurred between Friday at 5 p.m. and Monday at 5 p.m.

It also says that "'emergency' means any unforeseen circumstances that would prevent the elector from voting at the polls."

The AZ GOP believes that the county must ensure that those voting at emergency voting centers actually experienced an emergency.

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"In other words, mere inconvenience is not a permissible predicate for a reprieve from the November 2 early voting deadline; the voter must be burdened with exigencies that would 'prevent'—i.e., make it impossible—for him or her to vote on Election Day, and that were not known or reasonably foreseeable," the letter said.

Fontes disagrees. When asked if he believes emergency voting, as he operated it, falls within the letter of the law, he said, “Of course I do. Read the statute. It’s in plain English."

Other counties use emergency voting

Maricopa County had not operated “emergency” voting centers the weekend before Election Day in previous elections, but Yuma and Pima counties have been doing it for years.

In interviews earlier this year, election officials in both counties said they do not investigate whether a voter is experiencing a true emergency.

"I’m not going to ask them to fill out a form. That is not our purpose. Our purpose is getting citizens to cast a vote," Democrat Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez said at the time.

Her Republican counterpart in Yuma County concurred.

"We’re required to be available to a voter who encounters an emergency. If a voter needs to come in to vote, we allow them to do it. We are required by law to be available that weekend. We are not interrogating a voter to find out what their emergency is," Robyn Pouquette said at the time.

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However, Former Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell on Monday questioned the counties' ability to continue voting into the weekend.

“I don’t think it’s what the statute allows," Purcell said. "It’s something I never thought was allowed under the law.”

This spring, the Legislature considered a bill that would have allowed Arizona counties with the proper technology to keep early voting centers open from Saturday through Monday before Election Day.

All 15 counties supported it.

It passed the Senate 29-0. House Republican leadership never allowed the bill to go to a vote, and it died.

Political posturing?

AZ GOP Chairman Jonathan Lines was quiet on the party's long-term plan.

When asked if the party was threatening a lawsuit via its letter, he said, "We’re looking into it. We’ve experienced some issues. We can talk about it later."

Some Democrats are calling the letter political posturing.

Roopali Desai, an election-law attorney who represents a number of Democratic candidates, including U.S. Senate hopeful Kyrsten Sinema, attorney general candidate January Contreras and schools chief candidate Kathy Hoffman, cast the letter as political posturing by Republicans.

“It is blatant voter suppression intended to disenfranchise voters,” she said. “If they really thought this was illegal conduct, they should have or would have gone to court much earlier. But they’re waiting for the 11th hour and they’re trying to set up a challenge to a policy that’s been in place for decades, and only based on whether or not they can gain an advantage on it."

Although Fontes would not confirm whether ballots cast at emergency vote centers were "segregated" as the AZGOP requested, he did say that it would be "nearly impossible" for him to do so. He said the ballots cast on Saturday are likely already combined with other ballots cast at early voting locations.

Fontes also said he believes his office is under no legal obligation to comply with the AZGOP's request.

“They haven’t even filed a lawsuit yet, so frankly, they can either…” Fontes paused. “There’s a saying here I’m not going to use.”

Arizona Republic reporters Justin Price and Jen Fifield contributed to this article.