On Tuesday, Oct. 12, a group of over 30 cars carrying over 50 passengers drove from Sedona down State Route 89A to the Yavapai County Administration Building at 10 S. 6th St. in Cottonwood in order to vote early, hoping to raise awareness and enthusiasm for voting early in the Nov. 3 general election.
“I think people are really passionate about this election,” said Kathy Kinsella, a newly elected Sedona City Councilwoman who got involved with the Parade to the Polls event through the Sedona Women’s March. “There’s been more interest than I’ve ever seen in my life. People feel strongly in their beliefs, whatever their beliefs are. There’s not a middle of the road in this election. People are willing to put themselves into the political discussion.”
It is not clear that the group needed to do much to raise awareness or enthusiasm for voting this year — based on the past few weeks since early voting began on Oct. 7, voters in Yavapai County appear plenty aware and plenty enthusiastic. As of Thursday, Oct. 15, just over a week after voting started, 13,175 have voted in the county, representing more than 10% of the total of 116,053 votes cast in the 2016 election, the last presidential year [which usually have a higher turnout than off years].
“We’ve definitely seen an increase in early voters and the use of our ballot drop boxes,” Yavapai County Recorder Leslie Hoffman said. “Our box here at the office we are emptying four times a day. There’s a steady line of cars right below our window. On Monday, we had a line of people a quarter-mile down the road.”
A law passed by the Arizona State Legislature after the 2018 election now allows election administrators to start counting early votes up to 14 days before Election Day, which means that the vote count could be faster than in previous years. According to Hoffman, voters have been especially fond of using ballot drop boxes, which also benefit the county by saving the cost of postage that goes with mail-in ballots.
The recorder’s office has added additional area drop boxes, including a new one at the Sedona Fire District station in the Village of Oak Creek, adding to the already-in-place ones in the Verde Valley at the county administration building in Cottonwood, the Camp Verde Town Hall, the Yavapai-Apache Nation, Clarkdale Town Hall and Sedona City Hall.
“We think that the drop box is probably the best alternative to make sure that your vote gets in — and let’s not forget that it saves the taxpayers money,” Kinsella said. “It’s safe, it’s reliable, it’s convenient.”
Hoffman said that in addition to a surge in early votes, the county has seen a heavy increase in new registrations this year, with a total of 187,765 registered voters as of Thursday — 85,937 Republicans, 38,652 Democrats, 1,579 Libertarians, and 54,597 independents or others — though this includes 18,765 voters on the inactive list, which requires them to update their address before voting.
Yavapai County usually has some of the highest turnout in the state of Arizona, with 84.47% of registered voters casting ballots in 2016. Hoffman expects more votes than ever this year, possibly even passing 90%, though the surge in registrations means that the percentage might not increase even with more votes than ever before.
“Holy smokes people are coming out,” Hoffman said. “We asked them to. They’re doing what we said. So get your ballot out as soon as possible.”
