With 1 week left to vote, here’s what to know about Maricopa County jurisdictional elections

PHOENIX — With one week until voting ends, Tuesday is the recommended deadline for putting completed ballots in the mail for the jurisdictional elections in metro Phoenix.

“The reason why we suggest today is to give the USPS plenty of time to get it to us by 7 p.m. on Nov. 7, which is next Tuesday, a week from today, and that’s Election Day,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Tuesday morning.

All registered voters in the participating Maricopa County cities and school districts were automatically sent ballots on Oct. 11, even those who aren’t on the Active Early Voting List.

Jurisdictional Elections
Election Day: Nov. 7, 2023

Ballot Packets Returned as of COB October 30: 299,180

Check your ballot status: https://t.co/s8rrf2omif

— Stephen Richer—MaricopaCountyRecorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) October 31, 2023

About 1.9 million ballots were sent out. As of Monday, nearly 300,000 had been returned.

How can Phoenix-area voters cast ballots in jurisdictional elections?

Voters were given the option of mailing in their completed ballots, dropping them off at a secure drop box location or voting in person with a replacement ballot. The drop box and replacement ballot options remain available until 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Visit Locations.Maricopa.Vote to find out when and where the drop boxes and in-person voting centers operate.

Ballots that arrive after the polls close won’t be counted.

Voters can sign up for ballot status updates by texting JOIN to 628-683 or visiting BeBallotReady.Vote.

“You can track your ballot through all stages of this process,” Richer said. “You can track when we’ve mailed it out. You can track when we received it back. You can track when we signature verified it, and you can track when we send it ahead to tabulation.”

What’s on the ballot for Maricopa County jurisdictional elections?

Five Maricopa County cities – El Mirage, Glendale, Goodyear, Phoenix and Surprise – have bond questions on their jurisdictional election ballots. Litchfield Park residents are voting on whether to adopt a city charter, and they also are electing 14 members to the Board of Freeholders to guide the charter formation process.

In addition, 23 Valley school districts are holding elections on bonds, M&O (maintenance and operation) and DAA (district additional assistance) overrides and lease/sale/exchanges.

Here’s the list of districts with issues on the jurisdictional election ballots:

• Agua Fria Union: Bond.
• Alhambra Elementary: Lease/site sale/exchange.
• Avondale Elementary: Bond.
• Deer Valley Unified: Bond; M&O override.
• Fountain Hills Unified: Bond; lease/site sale/exchange.
• Fowler Elementary: M&O override.
• Gila Bend Unified: M&O override.
• Gilbert Unified: Bond; M&O override.
• Glendale Elementary: Bond; M&O override; DAA override; Lease/site sale
  exchange.
• Kyrene Elementary: Bond; DAA override.
• Liberty Elementary: Bond.
• Litchfield Elementary: Bond.
• Littleton Elementary: M&O override.
• Madison Elementary: Bond; M&O override.
• Mesa Public Schools: Bond; M&O override.
• Osborn Elementary: Bond; M&O override.
• Paradise Valley Unified: Bond.
• Pendergast Elementary: Bond; M&O override.
• Phoenix Union: Bond.
• Queen Creek Unified: Bond; M&O override; DAA override.
• Scottsdale Unified: M&O override.
• Tolleson Elementary: Bond.
• Tolleson Union: Bond.

When will Valley jurisdictional election results be released?

Richer said the first batch of results will be posted at 8 p.m. on Election Day.

“They will be available at results.maricopa.gov, and those will include everything that we’ve been able to … signature verify, process, send a tabulation,” he said.

“For any races that aren’t quite close, you’ll be able to determine who the winner is.”

Additional results will be posted as they are processed.

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