Early voting could affect preliminary election results

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Friday was the last day to vote early in person before the November 8 midterms.

Election officials at Edison Research and Catalyst say throughout Arizona, more Democrats are voting early compared to Republicans.

Pima Community College political science professor Eric Saphir said if the first batch of ballots that are reported come from early votes, the election results can appear to be Democratic leaning.

However, he said if the votes from Election Day are reported first, the results can appear to have more Republican winners.

“Republicans will vote more on Election Day than Democrats,” Saphir said while describing that Democrats tend to vote early.

He said Republicans have historically voted early, but that changed because of their beliefs on election security.

“Because of what’s happened in terms of debates over election security and allegations of fraud,” Saphir said.

However, while some Republicans in Oro Valley said they vote early because it’s convenient, some Republicans said they are confident early voting is secure.

“I like the way Pima County does it because you can track the ballot. I already got acceptance that my ballot was accepted, my signature was accepted and I have the batch number where it’s going to be counted,” a Republican voter from Oro Valley who wished to stay anonymous said.

The Arizona Secretary of State’s website says there are over 4.1 million registered voters in Arizona. It says about 35 percent are Republicans and about 31 percent are Democrats.

The Pima County Recorder’s office says over 200,000 people have voted early so far.

Darrell Bakeman is an Oro Valley resident who votes Democrat.

However, she said people should cast their ballot how they want and shouldn’t let other people tell them how or where to vote.

She voted early about three weeks ago by mail.

“It’s never been a reason to wait til the day to send in a ballot. It’s pretty easy for me to just fill it out and send it in especially if I’ve been paying attention to the candidates,” Bakeman said.

She also said she trusts early voting because she can track her ballot.

“Once they tell me that they have received it and it will be counted, I have that documentation,” Bakeman said.

However, no matter when or how people vote, early voters like Oro Valley resident Lee Holmes said letting your voice be heard is important.

“Anyway you can do it, vote! Please vote. We all need it,” Holmes said.

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