Nearly 1.5M voters cast ballots in Maricopa County

PHOENIX, AZ — As Election Day hit the noon hour, voters steadily made their way to polling locations across Maricopa County.

As of 10:10 p.m. Tuesday evening, approximately 1.5 million people voted. Republicans hold a 3 to 1 advantage over Democrats. Those numbers do not include voters who requested an early ballot and waited until today to drop it off.

In Legislative District 28, where the Senate race between incumbent Kate Brophy McGee (R) and Christine Marsh (D) figures to be close, Republican turnout was strong Tuesday morning. But Brophy McGee, who has faced some tough election battles in the past, was not willing to rest easy.

Early ballot returns favor Democrats, and both Senator McGee and challenger Marsh are not sure they will know who will win tonight.

Four years ago, the two faced off against each other with Brophy McGee winning by 267 votes.

Other key legislative races in the AZ House of Representatives, like Legislative District 20, which covers parts of Phoenix and Glendale and Legislative District 21 in Peoria, also figure to be very close.

Democrats Judy Schwiebert in Legislative District 20 is trying to unseat either Anthony Kern (R) or Shawnna Bolick (R), the two incumbents.

Kathy Knecht (D) is trying to win one of the two House seats in Peoria’s Legislative District 21. She is facing incumbent Kevin Payne (R) and Beverly Pingerelli (R). Knecht said they may not know the winners in that district until later this week.

Entering into Election Day, there were approximately 300,000 early ballots that had not yet been returned in Maricopa County. So, while the Recorder’s Office has already counted nearly 1.7 million ballots, like in Legislative District 21, declaring victory in any race Tuesday night risks being premature.

If tradition holds, the polls will be busy again at lunch time and then again later as voters get off from work and vote before going home to learn the results.