The Latest in Arizona's midterm election:

7 p.m.

Polls have closed in Arizona.

Election officials forecast turnabout of about 60 percent.

That's a sign of unusually high interest in the midterm election. The top race in the state is the neck-and-neck U.S. Senate race between Republican Rep. Martha McSally and Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema.

Republican Gov. Doug Ducey is also up for re-election. His challenger is Democratic education professor David Garcia. Statewide officers from attorney general to corporation commissioner are also on the ballot.

A GOP-backed measure would allow the expansion of a school voucher program. A Democratic-backed one would increase the state's renewable energy standards.

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6:55 p.m.

A judge has denied a request from voter rights groups to force Maricopa County to keep polls open past the normal 7 p.m. close because some people had problems voting.

State Elections Director Eric Spencer says the request was denied Tuesday evening and polls will close as scheduled. Anyone in line at 7 p.m. will be able to cast a ballot.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors had earlier denied a request from several advocacy groups to extend voting.

Board spokesman Fields Moseley said keeping the polls open late would be unprecedented and could confuse voters, delay returns and have unintended consequences.

Students on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe have waited in long lines most of the day and scattered problems were reported elsewhere.

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6:50 p.m.

Voter turnout in the Phoenix and surrounding area is projected to be more than 60 percent in Tuesday's general election.

That's much higher than the 45 percent turnout for the last mid-term election in November 2014.

Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes says in Facebook event Tuesday evening that the high turnout has resulted in long lines at some polling stations.

He said the state's most populous county has had more than 242,000 in-person voters, a record. Arizona State University in Tempe saw continuously long lines.

Fontes says there were some technical glitches and a couple of locations that didn't open on time because poll workers were locked out of the buildings.

A few advocacy groups asked the county board of supervisors to keep polling locations open past 7 p.m., but the board declined.

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6:25 p.m.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will not keep polls open past 7 p.m. after several advocacy groups complained some voters had issues casting ballots.

Board spokesman Fields Moseley said keeping the polls open late would be unprecedented and could confuse voters, delay returns and have unintended consequences.

Students on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe have waited in long lines most of the day, and several advocacy groups called on the supervisors to keep polls open beyond 7 p.m.

Feminist Majority, a group that works with students on voting rights, said the nine voting stations at the campus polling location were not sufficient.

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law said that technology glitches and printing problems meant some people could not vote.

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6:10 p.m.

The Arizona Republican Party is demanding that all of the state's 15 county recorders not work to verify signatures on early ballots dropped off at the polls on Election Day if an initial review finds the signature doesn't match what's on file.

The letter sent to the recorders also claims that emergency voting centers in Maricopa County and possibly other counties that opened this weekend were illegal. The letter signed by Party Chairman Jonathan Lines asks the recorders not to count any of those votes.

The Republicans' attorney says there is no legal basis for trying to confirm problematic early ballot signatures after polls close Tuesday. Kory Langhofer also says the "emergency voting centers" were opened without an emergency.

An attorney who represents some Democrats calls the Republican letter an effort at voter suppression.

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4 p.m.

Police in the Phoenix suburb of Goodyear say a man has been arrested for allegedly carrying a BB gun and filming inside the venue.

They say 37-year-old Brad Luebke was caught filming inside the Desert Springs Community Church around 12:35 p.m. Tuesday.

That violates Arizona law which prohibits filming within 75 feet of a polling location.

Police say polling officials and officers tried to tell Luebke about the laws and he was arrested after refusing to leave the polling location.

They say Luebke was wearing a holstered BB gun on his hip.

Police say he's facing three counts of disorderly conduct, one count of misconduct involving weapons and one count of recording within 75 feet of a polling place.

It's unclear if Luebke has a lawyer yet.

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1:35 p.m.

Information technology worker Keith Cook used to be a Republican but says he changed to Democrat during the 1980s because he felt the GOP was too aligned with the Christian right and excluding others.

The 53-year-old Christian says it hasn't gotten better and that issues weighing on him are the environment and global warming as well as how to take care of the homeless.

As a Christian, he said the decline of political discourse with Donald Trump as president has been disheartening.

Cook would like to see Democrats win one of the congressional chambers, though he's not sure what good will come of it.

He voted for Kyrsten Sinema for Senate because she has demonstrated her willingness to be more bipartisan. He questions whether Martha McSally could do that.

1:15 p.m.

Commercial builder Keith Broadwater from Phoenix says his votes in Tuesday's midterm election reflected his support for the U.S. Constitution, President Donald Trump, the people who have been forgotten by politicians, and the president's approach to economic growth and illegal immigration.

The 65-year-old told The Associated Press that he voted for Republican Senate candidate Martha McSally and GOP Gov. Doug Ducey.

Broadwater described himself as a "Christian American constitutional conservative Republican — in that order."

He credited Trump with improving the business climate by cutting regulations on business "so that the entrepreneurial free expression of ideas can run again."

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1 p.m.

Rep. Martha McSally is telling backers to "just land the plane."

The Republican senate candidate and former combat pilot greeted supporters at a Chandler diner on Election Day. She urged them to "carbo-load" and then get back to knocking on doors.

In McSally's words, "we're mission complete, we're almost out of ammo, just land the plane."

McSally is locked in a tight race with Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema for Arizona's open Senate seat.

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12:35 p.m.

U.S. Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema is spending the final hours of election day talking to voters and grabbing food from one of her favorite restaurants.

The Democrat said she started Tuesday with a run on the University of Arizona campus in Tucson before heading to Phoenix.

She greeted patrons during the lunch hour at America's Taco Shop in Phoenix.

Sinema says she continues to remain laser-focused on campaigning up until the polls close. She also says she is not concerned by any confusion that may arise from the late withdrawal of Green Party candidate Angela Green.

Sinema and Republican Martha McSally are locked in a tight race to become Arizona's first female senator. They are vying for the seat vacated by Sen. Jeff Flake, who decided not to seek re-election.

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10:45 a.m.

Maricopa County's top election official says the Election Day turnout at polling sites in metro Phoenix is almost on par with a presidential election.

County Recorder Adrian Fontes says more than 86,000 ballots were cast at polling places of Tuesday morning.

Fontes says lines at some locations left people waiting for a voting booth but not to check in.

Fontes says there have been some hiccups at a few of the some 500 voting sites.

The hiccups included technical glitches at one in Mesa and a foreclosure that locked up one in Chandler.

Fontes says the Chandler location is being set up at an alternative site elsewhere in the same property. Officials had planned initially to relocate to a high school.

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10:25 a.m.

A 52-year-old math teacher at a Phoenix community college says she always votes but that this midterm carries a particular urgency.

Democrat Kory Ambrosich says she's "very frightened" by the country's direction under President Donald Trump and his Republican supporters and says that direction "definitely needs to be halted and changed."

Ambrosich told The Associated Pres that she's saddened by the country's political divide and that she feels it in her own family.

She wants a Congress that would be willing to push back against Trump if necessary, even if it means less would get done.

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10 a.m.

A 60-year-old Phoenix man is rooting for Martha McSally to be Arizona's first female senator.

Jeff Heisel told The Associated Press that he liked McSally's fighter pilot background and that he and his wife felt so strongly about McSally that they went to her Oct. 12 rally in Gilbert.,

Heisel said he didn't like how Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake failed to support President Donald Trump Trump.

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8:45 a.m.

Maricopa County election officials say a polling site in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler is not operating.

County Recorder Adrian Fontes told KTVK-TV that poll workers were trying to set up in the parking lot of the Golf Academy of America, which had been foreclosed on overnight Tuesday.

Fontes says they will now open a new polling location for the Gila Precinct at Mesquite High School in nearby Gilbert around 10 a.m.

The owners of the property locked the doors, taking election officials by surprise.

Fontes had said reopening the site would have required a court order.

Any voter can cast a ballot at a voting center, while only voters registered in a specific precinct such as the Gila Precinct can cast ballots at a precinct's polling location.

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8:05 a.m.

A precinct polling location in a Phoenix suburb that was locked by a landlord is open.

Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes tweeted that the Gila Precinct's location in Chandler was up and running shortly after 7 a.m. Tuesday.

The owners of the Golf Academy of America polling location locked the doors overnight.

Fontes says his office was taken by surprise and learned the property was in foreclosure.

County election officials were sending affected voters to cast ballots at a voting center at Chandler City Hall. They said reopening the site would require a court order.

Any voter can cast a ballot at a voting center, while only voters registered in a specific precinct such as the Gila Precinct can cast ballots at a precinct's polling location.

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6:30 a.m.

Maricopa County's top elections official says a precinct polling location in a Phoenix suburb didn't open as scheduled Tuesday morning for the start of midterm election voting because the landlord locked the doors overnight.

County Recorder Adrian Fontes says his office was surprised to learn the Gila Precinct's location in Chandler is in foreclosure and Fontes says his office is working to reopen the site or find a new one on short notice.

However, Fontes says affected voters can cast ballots at a voting center at Chandler City Hall.

Any voter can cast a ballot at a voting center, while only voters registered in a specific precinct such as the Gila Precinct can cast ballots at a precinct's polling location.

Fontes says opening the Gila Precinct polling site would require getting a court order.

Maricopa County has over 500 polling locations.

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6:20 a.m.

Voting is underway in Arizona as polling stations open across the state for Tuesday's midterm election.

Democrat Kyrsten Sinema takes on Republican Martha McSally in the U.S. Senate race to replace Republican Jeff Flake, who is retiring.

In another statewide race, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey seeks a second term. He's challenged by Democrat David Garcia.

Voters also will fill the state's other statewide offices from attorney general to corporation commissioner.

A Republican-backed measure to expand the state's school vouchers program is on the ballot. So is a Democratic-backed one to increase the state's renewable energy standard.

Polls are to remove until 7 p.m. but most Arizona voters have already cast their ballots early. Officials forecast potentially record turnout for a midterm.

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11:10 p.m.

Voters are making their final decisions in a historic Arizona election.

Either Republican Rep. Martha McSally or Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema will become the state's first female U.S. Senator. Their contentious race for a seat being vacated by retiring Senator Jeff Flake has dominated the state's politics.

Voters will also decide whether to re-elect Republican Gov. Doug Ducey. They'll also choose officials for the state's various statewide offices from attorney general to corporation commissioner. A Republican-backed measure to expand the state's school voucher program is on the ballot. So is a Democratic-backed one to increase the state's renewable energy standard.

The majority of Arizona voters have already cast their ballots early for the election. Officials are forecasting potentially record turnout for a midterm.


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