Election Day is here

For the last four years, Yavapai County has tried to make voting as easy as possible. This year’s general election on Tuesday, Nov. 8, is not expected to be an exception.

“Having vote centers since 2012 has proven to be a great advantage for our voters,” Yavapai County Recorder Leslie Hoffman said. “As they have become accustomed to going anywhere in the county to cast their ballot, they’ve grown to enjoy the ease and convenience.”

Voters in Yavapai County may vote on Election Day at any one of the 29 vote centers throughout the county [see info box for those in the Verde Valley]. Voters who have kept their voter registration current and show proper identification at the vote center will cast a regular ballot. However, there may be instances when a voter will be given a provisional ballot:

• If a voter’s name is not found on the roster.
• Voter does not present any form of identification.
• Voter’s identification does not match the voter registration records.
• The voter is indicated as having cast an early ballot.

Hoffman said the 2012 general election saw turnout of 81.5 percent, which was slightly lower than in 2008 that saw that mark hit 84.8 percent.

“We anticipate over 80 percent turn out,” she said. “Even if we have higher turnout than expected we feel we have the resources in place. Our turnout for the primary was higher than anticipated and all went very well. This is also aided by the high number of early voters in our county.”

Hoffmann said of the 137,390 registered voters, 71 percent are on the Permanent Early Voter List and that number has continued to grow. As of Thursday, Oct. 27, with the PEVL list and one-time requests, the county had mailed more than 104,000 ballot packages. In addition, they had close to 1,000 voters come in and vote early in person. As of last week they had processed 34,655 returned ballots and were working on approximately 17,000 that were in house.  

As for advice for voters, Hoffman said they should remember that they can cast their ballot anywhere in Yavapai County that has a “Vote Here” sign. If you are dropping off your early ballot on Election Day at a Vote Center and there is a line, you do not have to wait.