PHOENIX — Early in-person voting began Wednesday in Arizona, making it the first of this year’s presidential battleground states where all residents can cast a ballot at a traditional polling place ahead of Election Day.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes visited a voting center in suburban Phoenix on Wednesday and encouraged people to vote early, especially in an election year when most counties have a two-page long ballot.
“Early voting also helps us get our results in earlier,” Fontes said outside Surprise City Hall. “So if you’re frustrated with the idea that results come in late, vote early and help us ameliorate that problem.”
At the same voting site, Cathy Koukal said Wednesday she enthusiastically cast her ballot for Vice President Kamala Harris because of her policies, and wants to see former President Donald Trump lose.
“We’ve known about Trump for a very long time, and he needs to go,” said Koukal, a 72-year-old retiree from New York.
Frank Spencer, 77, said outside the center he cast his ballot for Trump, just as he did in the previous two elections, despite being a registered Democrat. He said he believes Trump could “get us out of the junk we’re in.”
“Harris and Biden got us into this mess,” said Spencer, explaining that he doesn’t usually vote a straight party ticket, but was voting for more Republicans this time. When Trump was in office, “we had no wars going on and whether people agree with this or not,” he said, “I felt we were more respected around the world.”
This week, in time with the start of in-person voting, both candidates are making visits to the closely contested state.
Wednesday’s voting overlaps with campaign stops by both vice presidential nominees — Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance, a Republican — who will hold separate events in Tucson on Wednesday.
Harris, the Democratic nominee, is scheduled to host a rally in Phoenix on Thursday, while Trump will hold one Sunday in Prescott Valley, a Republican stronghold about 90 miles (144 kilometers) north of Phoenix.
President Joe Biden defeated Trump in 2020 by just 10,457 votes, a narrow margin that set off years of misinformation and conspiracy theories among Republicans who refused to acknowledge Biden’s win. It also has led to threats and harassment of election workers, prompting some election offices to boost security for their workers and polling place volunteers.
In Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, some schools have declined to serve as polling locations, citing harassment of workers and other safety concerns.
Early voting, particularly by mail, has long been popular in Arizona, where nearly 80% of voters submitted their ballots before Election Day in 2020, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
Each of Arizona’s 15 counties is required to open at least one site for in-person voting, which runs until the Friday before the Nov. 5 general election. In Maricopa County, a dozen voting centers are scattered around the metro Phoenix area.
Arizona had 4.1 million registered voters as of late July, according to the most recent tally by the Secretary of State’s Office. That figure likely is higher as both parties pushed to increase registration before Monday’s deadline.
Early in-person voting has been underway in other states for a couple of weeks. It begins next week in four more presidential swing states — Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Nevada.
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Gabriel Sandoval is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.