Early voting for the 2020 General Election begins Wednesday, Oct. 7, in Arizona. That means that counties are slated to begin sending Early ballots to registered voters on the Permanent Early Voter List, and registered voters can vote in-person at Early Voting sites starting today.
Arizona first allowed voters to request a ballot by mail for any reason in 1992. Later, the term “absentee” ballot was officially changed to “early” ballot. Today, about 80% of Arizona voters cast their ballot by mail, according to the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission. That figure swelled to 88% in the 2020 Primary Election.
Yavapai County Recorder Leslie Hoffman and Coconino County Recorder Patty Hansen said their respective counties are prepared for increased voting Early ballots in a year when some voters are wary of congested places — though in Yavapai and Coconino counties, where a large percentage of the population votes are cast by early ballot, crowds at polls are not usually a problem.
Hoffman said this year 81% of registered voters have requested ballots by mail so far, and that usually another 6% or 7% of voters request a one-time early mail-in ballot.
Besides coronavirus exposure, another topic of concern this year is election integrity: Is every early ballot going to be counted? Can early ballots be used to vote multiple times, or by someone other than the registered voter?
Both county officials expressed confidence in the safeguards in the voting system to ensure that one voter gets one vote and all legitimate ballots are counted.
“We’ve been doing voting by mail elections for a long time. We’re very well prepared,” Hansen said
In the 2020 Primary Election, Hoffman said only 168 out of 77,794 total ballots cast had to be rejected: 0.2%. The top reason for rejecting provisional ballots cast at the polls on Election Day was “Not Registered” followed by “Voted an Early Ballot.”
The top reason for rejecting early ballots was “signature different” from the signature on record, and “not signed.” In both of these situations, Hoffman and Hansen said, the counties will attempt to contact the voter to rectify the issues with the ballot using every mode of contact they have available, including phone, email, text message and finally a letter if they have to, and the vote is only rejected if the voter fails to “cure” the ballot within five days after a federal race or three days for other races.
Early ballot voters can verify that their ballot has been processed by the counties by several methods.
Q&A with Leslie Hoffman:
How are signatures on early [mail-in] ballots checked?
“It is all by hand. There is a barcode on the affidavit envelope, and it ties to the voter record …. That barcode is going to bring up [the voter’s] history with his signature, and then we actually hold the ballot up next to that signature.”
Where does the signature come from that you check the early ballot signature against?
“We’re allowed to capture all of the signatures that come in on official election mail. So, anytime you re-register if you move or if you weren’t originally on the early voter list and you sign one of our forms and send it to us, we capture those signatures. So, we might have four or five signatures on file for any one person.”
Can you check to confirm that your early ballot has been received?
“Absolutely. You can go on to yavapai.us/govote, and that brings you right to our website and then you can check. And you can always call 771- 3248 and ask if it’s been processed. We have a couple of different ways that you can check to make sure that your ballot is here and processed.
“Now, if your ballot is dropped off or received in the mail on one of our busier days and we get 8,000 or 10,000 ballots in that day, it’s going to take us a day or a day-and-a-half to get through those …. We’re setting up a couple different procedures this year to help speed that process up, because we are expecting a higher volume than normal.”
Is it possible for someone to vote multiple times?
“Once that first ballot comes back in, it’s tied to your voter record and if another were to come back through the mail — so later the husband mailed the ballot that you didn’t realize had been mailed — that one will not count. You only get to vote once. But you do get the option of making a mistake or losing [a ballot]. I’ve had people say ‘I accidentally threw it away, my dog chewed it up,’ and that’s OK, but three strikes you’re out — you get up to three ballots” by Arizona state law.
Are you prepared for a big surge in ballots by mail?
“Oh yes. We’ve been at 76%, 77% [of registered voters voting by mail] for a long time now.
“So, yes, we’ve seen a surge [this year], but it’s a small percentage more. In the grand scheme of things, yes, it is a lot more, but we’re going to have a few more computers online to work on in a quiet space. We’re doing a few different things to be able to process them more efficiently.”
Do you think residents should feel comfortable with voting by mail?
“Absolutely. We’re getting a lot of calls, which we like, because the more that we can speak personally to people, the more confident they’ll feel, the more secure they’ll feel. When we explain our process and how we handle everything, and let them know, if you aren’t comfortable returning your ballot to the mail, you can drop off at a drop box, you don’t even have to get out of your car. Or you can drop it off at a vote center, or you can bring it to the office over there at Cottonwood or here in Prescott.”
Is there anything else that you want voters to know?
“One thing that is one of the greatest options that we have that seems to be a very hard message to get out there is the 27-day early voting period.
“Starting Oct. 7, people can come in and vote early in person at our Cottonwood office or Prescott office, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. For people who really like to vote on Election Day, but they might be out of town or are a little concerned about this pandemic and don’t want to go with crowds but still want to vote in person, they can. They can come in.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re having a Clarkdale council race or a presidential race, every election in Arizona you’re given the opportunity to vote 27 days early in person.”
