Thousands of voters in Maricopa County are already voting in large numbers, either through mail-in ballots or in-person voting. This year voters have several options including drive-through drop-off boxes and voting centers, which county officials have unveiled for the first time this year.
All of this takes place in the grip of the worst pandemic in more than one hundred years and Erika Flores, the deputy director of communications for Maricopa County, says that is the reason for the changes this election season.
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic began earlier this year, many U.S. voters have wondered what impact the pandemic might have on voting. Here in Maricopa County, elections officials recognized the issue early on and have planned accordingly, said Flores.
“Voters need to know that this year things are very different because of the pandemic,” she said.
Voting centers are different from typical precinct voting, which permits people to vote at one assigned location according to their home address. According to BeBallotReady.Vote, a county initiative designed to help voters find their registration and other voter information, this year voters can cast a ballot at any location, regardless of where they live.
Additionally, voting centers will have drive-through drop-off boxes for voters to securely place their ballots while still limiting social interaction. These drop-off boxes are now outside voting centers and will be available for drive-through on Oct. 24 and Oct. 31-Nov. 3, Flores said.
The drive-through boxes will be open 24 hours a day every day until 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3, as well.
Trained poll workers will monitor drive-through drop off boxes and deliver sealed ballots on a nightly basis to the Elections Department, according to Maricopa County.
Voters are also free to vote in-person at any voting center now through November 3 and the deadline to register to vote was extended to Oct. 23.
Although early voting is not new to Maricopa County, Flores said that voters might have previously been unaware of early voting because it wasn’t in the news as much as it is now due to the pandemic.
On Oct. 7, the first day of national early-voting, seven voting centers in Maricopa County opened, and the county saw a record-breaking number of early voters, according to the County Recorder Adrian Fontes on Twitter. Fontes said 2,922 early voters cast ballots on the first day compared to the 393 early voters in 2018.
Although only seven voting centers are open now, 175 will be open by Election Day, Flores said.
He also said Maricopa County was able to use federal funds because of the pandemic to “secure large facilities” that ensure the practice of social distancing and to provide gloves and masks at polling stations.
In addition to COVID-19 related safety concerns, voting was only further complicated this year by President Trump’s insistence on questioning the integrity of the mail-in voting system.
Throughout the presidential debate between Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden, Trump repeatedly alleged that mail-in voting contributed to widespread fraud and that mail-in ballots could easily be manipulated.
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Josh Barnett, the Republican candidate for Arizona Congressional District 7, agreed with President Trump that the safest way to vote is in person.
“The only way that I feel that I could tell somebody to be sure that their vote counts is to vote in person. Or at least turn their ballot in person,” Barnett said.
Barnett said he’s worried mail-in ballots will not be counted properly.
“There’s thousands, tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of ballots every election that their vote doesn’t get counted because there’s something wrong with them. That’s a huge problem because I want everyone’s vote to get counted,” he said.
Rod Spurgeon is a communications specialist with the U.S. Postal Service and said their number one priority from now until the election is the secure and timely delivery of the nation’s election mail.
“The Inspection Service continues to employ its technical capabilities and specialized personnel to protect the critical infrastructure of our processing and distribution networks, as well as the employees who will be delivering to voters across the country,” Spurgeon said. “Postal Inspectors will continue to actively identify attempts to compromise the mail system our Nation is depending on during this critical time.”
According to an analysis from NPR, the 2020 presidential primaries saw more than 550,000 ballots rejected all across the country, a large increase from the 318,728 ballots rejected in the 2016 general election. Most were rejected because they were received past the deadline or because the required signature did not match the previous signature on file.
First-time absentee ballot voters, voters of color and young voters are among those most likely to not have their ballots counted, according to NPR.
“My concerns are the more hands that are placed on the ballot, the more risk of something bad happening. You’ve seen ballots get thrown away, thrown in trash dumpsters,” Barnett said.
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said Arizona has a proud history of secure mail-in voting.
“Most Arizonans already vote by mail, allowing them to fill out their ballot from the comfort and safety of their home and then mail it back or drop it off at any drop-box or voting location in their county,” Hobbs said.
Flores said the pandemic has led to an increase in voter outreach, and that voters shouldn’t worry about getting their ballots in by the deadline because of the various options available for ballot drop-off. When asked about the possibility of these changes becoming permanent, Flores said that all changes to the voting process must be approved by the Board of Directors.
“If we were to continue this, we would have to present that plan to them and then they would have to decide whether that is something we could continue with,” Flores said.
To find your voting center and more, visit recorder.maricopa.gov/elections. For more information regarding voting in this election, go to BeBallotReady.vote.
Contact the reporter at ribanuel@asu.edu.
