Arizonans submit over 500K ballots through first full week of voting

PHOENIX – More than half a million ballots were cast through the first full week of voting in Arizona, according to tracking by a Phoenix research firm.

As expected, more Democrats than Republicans took advantage of the earliest voting opportunities.

“Turnout is well ahead of 2016, when comparing day-over-day early vote returns,” George Khalaf, Data Orbital president, told KTAR News 92.3 FM in an email Friday. “This increase is primarily coming from Democratic voters voting much earlier than they usually do.

“There are a lot of likely voting Republicans who have yet to cast their early ballot.”

Of the 528,414 ballots received by county elections offices through Thursday, 251,002, or 47.5%, came from registered Democrats, according to Data Orbital’s early voting tracker.

Republicans accounted for 171,428 of the votes (32.4%), with 105,984 (20.1%) from independents.

Data Orbital updates its dashboard, which tracks early ballots that were mailed in or dropped off plus in-person voting, every weekday.

Elections officials started sending out ballots to people on the permanent early voting list and others who requested early ballots on Oct. 7.

That’s also when polling stations started opening for in-person voting.

The deadline for Arizonans to register and be eligible for the Nov. 3 election passed Thursday.

Registered voters who aren’t on the permanent early list can request a mail ballot by Oct. 23.

Ballots that aren’t cast at the polls must be received at elections offices by 7 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.

Officials recommend getting them in the mail no later than Oct. 27, although they can also be handed in at any county polling location or secure drop box until the polls close on Election Day.

Visit Arizona.Vote, or Maricopa.Vote for metro Phoenix, for more election information and to find a convenient voting location.

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