Election headlines over the last several days have touted the overwhelming number of early ballots received by Arizona’s 15 counties, but as Election Day dawns Tuesday there are thousands of voters who mailed or dropped off their cast ballot but it’s not listed as received on www.my.arizona.vote, the state’s official voting status website.
And that raises the question of what voters should do to ensure their vote counts.
State elections officials report a record-breaking 2.4 million early ballots were returned by U.S. mail, placed in official ballot boxes, or cast in person as of Nov. 2. The state’s website is updated throughout the day as bar codes on early ballots are scanned, letting those voters know everything is good.
But early voting ballots must be received by the recorder’s office by 7 p.m. Tuesday to be counted, even if the ballot is tabulated at a later date. That deadline applies whether the ballot is being returned by the U.S. Postal Service or picked up from a county drop box.
So what should you do if your online voting status still shows your early voter ballot hasn’t been received? The only option, according to elections officials, is to go to a voter center or polling place on Tuesday and cast a conditional -or provisional- ballot.
Such ballots are set aside for further review. They are normally used for voters who have recently moved but didn’t update their voter registration record, or voters whose identification doesn’t match their voter record.
However, provisional ballots can also be cast in Arizona by voters who requested an early ballot but for some reason now wish to vote in-person on Election Day. Those reasons can include losing their early ballot or having reason to believe the early ballot won’t be received by the recorder’s office in time.
Although the voter is technically casting two ballots in the same election, state law does not prohibit the practice if both ballots are cast in the same “jurisdiction” and the voter is forthright about the action.