PHOENIX — Some Maricopa County voters are holding their general election ballots nearly a week before anyone was supposed to, after a printing and mailing vendor sent them out ahead of schedule, FOX 10 Phoenix reported Monday.
The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office said more than 3,100 early ballots were mailed Oct. 1. The official mailing date for early ballots is Wednesday, Oct. 7, which means the batch went out six days early. The county said the mistake was made by Runbeck Election Services and was not authorized by the Recorder’s Office. Officials did not explain what caused it.
Are the ballots valid?
Yes, according to the county. Election officials said the ballots that went out early are the correct ones, were addressed to the right voters, and can be completed and mailed back as usual.
Sam Stone, chief of staff for the Recorder’s Office, told FOX 10 the office checked with the Maricopa County Attorney before telling voters there was no reason for concern. Any ballots that arrive before early voting officially begins will be kept unopened in secure storage, he said, then signature-verified and processed with the rest of the early ballots.
The Recorder’s Office said it will begin inspecting Runbeck’s process on Monday. Voters who did not get an early ballot should expect theirs after the Oct. 7 mailing date.
Also today: registration deadline
Monday, Oct. 5, is the last day to register to vote or update a registration for the Nov. 3 general election in Arizona. Voters can check their status and register online through the Arizona Secretary of State’s website or their county recorder.
The early mailing comes in a heated election season in Arizona, where mail voting and ballot handling have been recurring themes, including in a recent debate between Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Republican challenger Alex Kolodin. According to the county, the early batch contains the correct ballots sent to the correct voters; the problem was the timing.
Photo: Paulo O via Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Generic mail ballot photo; not a Maricopa County ballot.