PHOENIX — Less than a week from jurisdictional elections in Maricopa County, in-person voting sites are now open and ballots have started to get counted.
Maricopa County Elections Department Communications Director Megan Gilbertson said they’ve received more than 200,000 ballots so far ahead of the Nov. 2 election.
“We've been working to signature-verify each and every one,” said Gilbertson. “If we have questions about your signature, we’ll contact you directly by the phone number that you put on your envelope.”
If you’re a registered voter in the county, you may be able to vote for measures that affect your local school district in these elections.
For example, in the Phoenix Elementary School District, there’s a maintenance and operations override to vote on.
According to the district, funds from maintenance and operations are used for running the schools and funding employee salaries and benefits, purchasing classroom supplies, and providing transportation.
That override measure decides if tax money will go towards continuing existing programs and services, so the district doesn’t potentially have to make cuts.
Gilbertson said the county elections department has been working for weeks to ensure a safe, accurate, and secure election. The ballots are counted in the department’s air-gapped tabulation center, which means it’s not connected to the Internet.
“We've had political party observers throughout the process,” she said. “Prior to beginning counting, we did an accuracy check to make sure that the equipment was ready and able to count for this election. We’ve passed that with flying colors.”
Gilbertson said preliminary results will be posted one hour after polls close Tuesday, meaning they will be posted at 8 p.m. on election night.
Final results likely will not be posted until the end of next week.
To find out what you’re voting on, or where to vote, click here.
