How to return a mail ballot

Remember the instructions included in your August primary ballot?

primary ballot instruction 2008Download

There are three possible reasons for these instructions: (1) to cause the automatic ballot readers to jam, in order to slow the ballot count, (2) to permit ballots to be intercepted, steamed open, altered and re-submitted, and/or (3) to cause everyone in Maricopa County to vote in person on Election Day, which won’t be possible because the lines will be too long. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the instructions above will not be supplied for the November ballot, whereupon our Recorder, Adrian Fontes, offered the same instructions over twitter. Story here.

Early voting started to open all over Maricopa County on October 7. Each one contains a padlocked blue plastic urn with a slot in it. Drop your completed ballots in there, or vote in person if you prefer. The result will be the same: a ballot in a green envelope dropped in the blue urn. Only on Election Day can you pass your ballot through the scanner yourself.

You can then get some confirmation from Maricopa County that your ballot has been at least received by browsing here. If it has been received, you will be told that it has been signature verified and counted. The process is taking about 72 hours on October 25.

Here is a page on the recorder’s website where you can obtain a spreadsheet list of voting centers.

The nearest as of October 13 is 2051 W Guadalupe Rd, in a strip mall on the south side of Guadalupe, just east of the 101 and west of St Timothy’s church, where the anchor tenant appears to be Goodwill. As of October 22, the nearest station is in Chandler Fashion, in a group of buildings on the north edge of the shopping center, where the anchor is PF Changs. The address is 3305 W Chandler Blvd, suite E05.

Please vote before Election Day.