Mesa, Arizona – The ballot count for Starbucks union vote in Mesa, Arizona, was scheduled for Wednesday, but before the action could begin, the ballots were impounded, bringing the election proceedings to an abrupt halt.

Mesa's Power and Baseline store sought to become the first outside of Buffalo to unionize on Wednesday.

But before any counting could take place, a representative for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced the tally would be postponed due to a pending decision on Starbucks' request for review.

The company is reportedly saying locations shouldn't be allowed to organize on a store-by-store basis – an argument that has already been shot down by the NLRB in previous cases.

"This is the result of a bad faith game played by Starbucks and their union-busting attorneys," Workers United legal representative Ian Hayes said in a statement.

"Starbucks has pulled a cheap trick by delaying the Mesa partners' inevitable victory. We'll be back when the ballot count is rescheduled in the coming days, and we will win," the statement concluded.

"This is just a delayed victory," reiterated Michelle Eisen, a leader in the Buffalo unionization campaign who traveled to Mesa to stand in solidarity with fellow partners.

"We all are just excited to be here and know that we are a part of a very historic moment in the labor movement in this country, and we're not slowing down," she added in a press conference after the scuttled ballot count.

Delaying the election results appears to be Starbucks' latest tactic to slow down the unionization wave.

"The company knows – we know – they're going to lose the request for review," Hayes explained during the news conference. "They just wanted to try to break the workers‘ momentum by depriving them of the victory today."

Attempts at "psychological warfare" are not new for Starbucks, according to local shift supervisor Liz Alanna.

She detailed numerous ways the company has allegedly attempted to undermine the Mesa unionization campaign, including bringing in new store managers, adding new partners to impact the election result, and sending upper-level management from out of state to monitor the store.

Alanna said one store manager was even meeting individually with baristas. They would "get tearful and/or cry," telling the workers, "'I really want you to vote no. This is breaking my heart.'"

Nevertheless, the company's union-busting moves seem to be having the opposite effect on local organizers.

Shift supervisor Michelle Hejduk told TAG24 NEWS, "We were planning to go celebrate after [the ballot count]. But now we are kind of free, so I say we go out and start organizing some more stores in this time."

"That's our goal, just to keep other partners going and support them the best that we can," she declared.

Mesa barista Zechariah Schwartz concluded the conference with a clear message: "We're with all of the other workers at Starbucks, and we just want to say: solidarity!"