Categories: Politics

Arizona enlists county employees to help tackle a surge of 2-page early ballots

PHOENIX — Employees for Arizona’s most populous county are taking on extra shifts to help election workers with an around-the-clock operation to process early ballots that are an unusually long two pages.

Election officials in Maricopa County must verify each voter’s signature on early ballot envelopes and then remove the ballot pages so they can be prepared for actual counting. The county was unsure how long it would need to keep up the 24-hour operation, which kicked off Thursday night.

“As predicted, the first two-page ballot since 2006 has affected election administration, especially for the hard-working bipartisan boards who are separating the ballot pages from the affidavit envelopes,” said Jennifer Liewer, Maricopa County deputy elections director for communications.

“In addition to election workers already on staff, county workers are stepping up to assist with the process,” she said

Liewer said early Thursday evening that the number of people helping out would fluctuate as they are trained, but that eventually between 150 and 200 people are expected to be used for the additional shifts.

“The county employees who are assisting with the night shifts are doing so outside of their normal job responsibilities,” she said. “We are also utilizing Maricopa County Public Health Medical Reserve Corps members.”

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer said earlier this week that ballots have been received from 1 million voters, a number approaching 40% of the nearly 2.6 million people registered.

Election officials in the presidential battleground state have urged people to vote early, or make a plan if they opt to cast their ballots in person on Election Day, which is Tuesday.

Early voting, particularly by mail, has long been popular in Arizona, where nearly 80% of voters submitted their ballots before Election Day in 2020, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

Arizona was the first of the presidential battleground states to open early in-person voting sites on Oct. 9, with a scattering of traditional voting centers.

Voters who received their ballots in the mail also can drop them off in person at polling sites or in a drop box.

Maricopa County mail ballots that arrive after Friday or that are dropped off at the polls generally won’t be tabulated until after Election Day, a fact that means it is often more than a week before the results of tight races are known.

Arizona has 4.36 million registered voters as of the Oct. 7 deadline to vote in next week’s election, according to a recent tally released by the Secretary of State’s Office.

Many counties outside Maricopa also will use a two-page ballot. The exact length will vary even in a single county because the ballots incorporate local contests.

Election officials in counties around the state have warned of possible delays at polling places. Maricopa County officials have said vote-counting machines could jam if both pages of the ballot are not fed separately into the on-site tabulation machine.

Maricopa County’s ballot alone will average 79 contests for local, state and federal races, as well as statewide ballot propositions.

News Today

Recent Posts

Kareena Kapoor’s Next Untitled Film With Meghna Gulzar Gets Prithviraj Sukumaran On Board

Kareena Kapoor is working with Raazi director Meghna Gulzar for her next film. The project,…

2 weeks ago

Purdue basketball freshman Daniel Jacobsen injured vs Northern Kentucky

2024-11-09 15:00:03 WEST LAFAYETTE -- Daniel Jacobsen's second game in Purdue basketball's starting lineup lasted…

2 weeks ago

Rashida Jones honors dad Quincy Jones with heartfelt tribute: ‘He was love’

2024-11-09 14:50:03 Rashida Jones is remembering her late father, famed music producer Quincy Jones, in…

2 weeks ago

Nosferatu Screening at Apollo Theatre Shows Student Interest in Experimental Cinema – The Oberlin Review

2024-11-09 14:40:03 A silent German expressionist film about vampires accompanied by Radiohead’s music — what…

2 weeks ago

What Are Adaptogens? Find Out How These 3 Herbs May Help You Tackle Stress Head-On

Let's face it - life can be downright stressful! With everything moving at breakneck speed,…

2 weeks ago

The new Mac Mini takes a small step towards upgradeable storage

Apple’s redesigned Mac Mini M4 has ditched the previous M2 machine’s SSD that was soldered…

2 weeks ago