Election Day for Arizonaβs primary election is today, Aug. 2, and voters will decide which candidates will advance to several key races in Novemberβs general election.
Voters will elect a new governor, attorney general and secretary of state this year, and all 90 seats in the Legislature are up for election. In Southern Arizona, voters will decide who moves onto the general election in three state Senate seats and three Arizona House seats.
In-person voting will look different this year with the countyβs debut of e-pollbooks and voting centers, where poll workers check in voters with an iPad, or e-pollbook, that scans votersβ IDs and confirms their eligibility to vote. The e-pollbook then sends a ballot specific to each voter to a ballot-on-demand printer.
A trial run-through of the new voting process for Pima Countyβs elections was held on June 24. The mock election served as a test of the new voting system the Pima County Board of Supervisors approved in February. Participants of the mock election were given pretend voter identification cards to cast votes on ballots from 2018 as part of the practice run. In the new process, poll workers check in voters with an iPad, or e-pollbook, that scans votersβ IDs and confirms their eligibility to vote. Pascal Albright / Arizona Daily Star
The new voting model also replaces the precinct-based polling system where voters were required to vote at the location assigned to them based on their residence. Pima County voters can show up at any of 129 vote centers across the county to cast a ballot on Aug. 2 regardless of the precinct they live in.
Constance Hargrove, the countyβs elections director, said at a news conference Thursday that the county has received and tested all the equipment needed to operate the vote centers. Elections workers have tested internet connections at all centers and added antennas to increase connectivity in rural areas, Hargrove said.
Pima County Elections DirectorΒ Constance Hargrove speaks to reporters about the new vote center process at a news conference Thursday.Β
The Pima County Recorderβs office has transferred more than 147,000 early ballots to the Elections Department as of Thursday. The last recommended day to mail-in ballots was July 26, but early ballots can still be dropped off at any vote center on Aug. 2.
To be prepared on Election Day, Hargrove said voters should bring proper identification and patience for the new process.
βI just want to make sure that voters are patient with the poll workers as they get used to the new process. And as they get used to it, it will go a lot quicker,β she said. βI just do not want voters to go in thinking that this is going to be a really super quick process β¦ These poll workers are voters just like the rest of us. Basically, they are volunteers. And so I just really want them to be nice to them so that they will come back for the general election in November.β
All ballots must be received by the Recorderβs Office by 7 p.m. today to be counted in the election.
To find a vote center near you, visit: web1.pima.gov/applications/votingcenters/
If you mailed in your ballot, you can check the status of it at recorder.pima.gov/voterstats/ballotinfo
Find stories covering this year's elections and find results all in one place.Β
