What you need to know about voting, results for 2026 midterm election in Maricopa County

A new Arizona law will speed up ballot counting for Tuesday’s election, but it doesn’t mean every race will be called before bedtime.

Voters who drop off their completed early ballots Monday or Tuesday can now opt to show an approved form of ID at a polling location to bypass the signature verification process later. The July primary was the first statewide election under the new law.

“We will certainly get more results more quickly. What I can tell you, and I’ve learned it from personal experience, is there are close races that it takes longer. It just simply does,” Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chair Kate Brophy McGee told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Monday.

Brophy McGee said that voters seem to like the ID option when they learn about it.

“You can still take your early ballot to the polls and drop it off as you always have,” she said. “But, if you decide you want to show your identification … on Election Day you can actually feed it through the tabulator. Before Election Day, it will go to the top of the pile of early ballots to be counted once it gets over to the election center.”

Ballots from voters who drop them off Monday or Tuesday without showing ID, either at polling places or secure drop boxes, will be counted after going through the signature verification process.

Maricopa County is home to about 60% of the state’s registered voters and is the nation’s third-largest election jurisdiction.

“We are a swing county. This is a swing state, and I think some of these election results are going to be very close,” Brophy McGee said.

How to find a place to vote in Maricopa County for midterm election

About 150 Maricopa County voting locations are open for in-person voting and early ballot collection Monday.

“By tomorrow, we’ll be up to 254 locations,” Brophy McGee said. The polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. on Election Day. Anybody in line by 7 p.m. is allowed to vote.

Registered Maricopa County voters can cast ballots at any of the polling locations. An interactive map with wait times and operating hours can be found at Locations.Maricopa.Vote.

The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office was in charge of early voting until Friday. The Maricopa County Elections Department, which is under the Board of Supervisors, took over for what is known as emergency voting over the weekend and Monday as well as Election Day.

Going forward, the Recorder’s Office still oversees signature verification of early ballot affidavit envelopes, including contacting voters about mismatched signatures, as well as processing provisional ballots.

Sunday at 5 p.m. is the deadline for voters to cure ballots that have signature discrepancies. Maricopa County voters can check the status of their early ballots by logging into their dashboards at Maricopa.Vote. Residents of other Arizona counties can check their early ballot status at My.Arizona.Vote.

“What we’re really focused on — every single person who is working in these polls and in our election center — they are focused on a safe and secure, transparent election and making sure that every voter in the county has a very smooth experience,” Brophy McGee said.

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