1 Million People Have Already Voted In Pivotal Maricopa County
Maricopa County is one of the few counties nationwide that could swing the outcome of the upcoming presidential election — and so far, it’s shattering records for early voting.
As of Friday, Maricopa County has already beaten 2016 early voting totals by a sizable margin.
County elections spokesperson Erika Flores says that, out of more than 2.5 million registered voters, more than a million have already voted.
“We have more than 1 million voters who have already cast their ballot," Flores said. "That would include in-person early voting, returning by mail, or dropping it off at a drop box. Back in 2016 we had about six hundred fifty thousand at about this time.”
The county is already counting early ballots, thanks to a new state law giving officials an extra week to count. Totals from those ballots will be released at 8 p.m. on Election Day.
The deadline to request an early ballot was Friday, Oct. 23, but voters who still want to vote early can go in person to a voting center, Flores said.
"Voters can go in person to cast their ballot if they do not have an early ballot, and there are no assigned locations this year," she said. "So they can find the location that’s most convenient to them. And we do have safety measures in place. We worked closely with the department of public health for Maricopa County to implement safety measures so that they can vote safely in person."
The County Elections office recommends that voters mail their ballots no later than this Tuesday, October 27th, because they must be received by elections officials no later than 7 p.m. on election day.
