MOHAVE COUNTY – An unprecedented number of Mohave County residents will be voting by mail in the Nov. 3 general election. The avalanche of early ballot requests has flooded the office of County Recorder Kristi Blair.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” Blair told the board of supervisors Monday. “We’ll be sending out over 80,000 mail ballots out of 128,000 voters.”
While sheer volume of voting by mail presents significant challenge, Blair said other problems are anticipated due to the close proximity of the Oct. 5 voter registration deadline and start of early voting on Oct. 7.
“Right now we still have over 2,500 voter registration forms to try and process before Monday,” Blair said. She also expressed concern about the number of residents who fail to sign their mail in ballots who submit them at the last minute, while they require signature verification review, which slows down ballot counting in the days after the election.
“I anticipate that you’ll be getting complaints,” Blair told the board. “We are doing our very best. Nowhere in my career have I been touched by so many dedicated employees here that are putting their heart into making sure that this election is a success. Failure is not an option.”
Blair told supervisors that outside organizations seeking to influence the election have stuffed mailboxes with confusing directives for recipients to register, or re-register to vote, or request ballots. She says many residents have sent in multiple voter registration forms which is creating unnecessary work for office.
Blair said residents can use the my.arizona.vote website to verify their voter registration status. She said residents sending communication that “we’re all idiots” is neither productive, nor helpful.
- Dave Hawkins
