re: Is there any legit justification for it taking so long to count votes in Arizona?

Personally, I think that all early votes should just be tabulated as they arrive, so that they are ready to report when the polls have closed, but I do understand the possibility that results would be leaked.

As to in-person early votes, this is not a problem. All the verification is done before the ballot is cast. All that remains is to run the ballot thru the tabulator machine. That can be completed post haste after the polls close.

As to early ballots that are returned to the registrar either by mail or by drop-off, no verification as been done, so the post-polls work includes BOTH verification of hundreds of thousands of ballots AND running them thru the tabulator.

I suppose that we COULD authorize realtime verification as the ballots arrive throughout the early voting period and save only tabulation until Election Day, but even then we would have the problem that many of these ballots will not ARRIVE until Election Day or a few days before. During that time, election workers are busy getting things ready and then watching the polling places. They really do not have the TIME to early-verify these ballots.

So, we are left with two options. Delayed completion of the count OR major changes to election law consisting of some combination of early verification/tabulation and/or reduction in the availability of early-voting in any way other than in-person.

But it really seems that we just have to choose between (a) instant gratification on Election Night and (b) ease and flexibility in casting our ballots.