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Seven O’Clock Deadline for Voting and Turning in Early Ballots

azcapitoltimes.com

Election day is Tuesday. But there are still many early ballots out there that haven’t been turned in. Arizona Public Radio’s Howard Fischer explains how to get them counted.

So, let’s say you’re a political writer who filled out your ballot weeks ago but didn’t drop it at the post office to make sure those political phone calls and mailings kept coming. And, now it’s sitting on the dashboard of your car. Maricopa County Elections Director Karen Osborne has some thoughts.

“It’s too late to mail it. And we have to have it in our hands by 7 o’clock. So they can drop it off at any polling place tomorrow that they happen to pass by,” Osborne says.

There are advantages of having an early ballot ready to go. There’s no need for the identification that is otherwise necessary.

“And there’s an individual little box there for you. And you can drop it in and run like a bunny,” Osborne says.

Osborne said her experience is that only about half the people got early ballots will actually return them. And she expects about one in 10 of those to actually show up at a polling place on election day.

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