MOHAVE COUNTY – Mohave County voters are returning early ballots for the Nov. 3 general election quickly, and in large numbers. Recorder Kristi Blair said about 30,000 early ballots had been returned to the county by Friday, just nine days after about 82,000 were mailed to county residents who requested them.
The more than 60,000 early ballots mailed out for the Aug. primary was a new record for early voting requests in Mohave County. Supervisor Gary Watson said he believes the county and nation may achieve new voter participation records in Nov. due to profound interest in the presidential contest and other issues of the day.
“I think we’re going to see the highest turnout ever, especially here, but nationally too,” Watson said.
Blair said Friday morning that her office had already processed about 10,000 ballots received.
“And we’re sitting on another 20,000 here right now,” Blair said. “An issue we have is that they want instantaneous results. They voted two days ago and they’re already calling us asking why can’t I go online and see that you’ve accepted my ballot.”
Blair said the process doesn’t work that quickly and that voter patience is appreciated. She said the voters have gotten the message to return ballots as early as possible to speed processing and tabulating.
“We’re very pleased that the voters are returning them early because that gives us more time to be able handle them,” Blair said. She again reiterated that procrastination and an avalanche of early ballots close to Nov. 3 overwhelms limited staff and slows down the tabulation endeavor.
Dave Hawkins
