Pima County Launches Emergency Voting Sites This Weekend for Upcoming Primary Election

Pima County residents have the opportunity to cast their ballots for the July 30 primary at various emergency voting locations on Saturday, July 27, and Monday, July 29. Note that these locations will be closed on Sunday, July 28.

Voters must sign a form attesting to having an emergency preventing them from voting on Election Day, but the nature of the emergency does not need to be disclosed, according to Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cazares-Kelly. “That emergency can be an inconvenience preventing you from voting on Election Day,” Cazares-Kelly said. “We are not going to ask you the nature of your emergency. If that is what you need to do to participate, then that is sufficient for us.”

The primary election results will determine the candidates for the Nov. 5 general election. This includes races for U.S. Senate, Congress, the Arizona Legislature, and local offices like the Pima County Board of Supervisors and county constables. Some races, such as the Pima County Attorney’s race, might be decided outright in the primary due to the absence of candidates from an opposing party.

Independent voters can participate in Democratic and Republican primaries by requesting a ballot, although independent turnout tends to be low. As of July 24, 197,846 Democratic early ballots were requested, with 73,076 returned. Among these, 3,729 were from independents. Overall, Democratic primary turnout was just under 31 percent.

In the Republican primary, 121,413 early ballots were requested, with 48,584 returned, including 3,487 from independents, resulting in an overall turnout of approximately 28 percent.

The emergency voting locations open on Saturday and Monday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. include:

• Fellowship Bible Church, 6700 E. Broadway
• Woods Memorial Library, 3455 N. 1st Ave.
• Eckstrom-Columbus Library, 4350 E. 22nd St.
• Dusenberry-River Library, 5605 E. River Rd., Suite 105
• Kirk Bear Canyon Library, 8959 E. Tanque Verde Rd.
• Pima County Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation Building, 3500 W. River Rd.
• Miller Golf Links Library, 9640 E. Golf Links Rd.
• Valencia Library, 202 W. Valencia Rd.
• Pascua Yaqui Wellness Center, 5305 W. Calle Torim
• Wheeler Taft Abbett Sr. Library, 7800 N. Schisler Dr.
• TOKA Community Building, 51 Baboquivari Dr. in Sells
• Salazar-Ajo Library, 15 W. Plaza, Suite 179, in Ajo
• Oro Valley Library, 1305 W. Naranja Dr.
• W. Anne Gibson-Esmond Station Library, 10931 E. Mary Ann Cleveland Way in Vail
• La Villita Community Center, 71 W. Sahuarita Road in the Sahuarita/Green Valley area

Two branches of the Pima County Recorder’s Office, at 6550 S. Country Club and 240 N. Stone Ave., will also be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday.

On Election Day, polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., with 126 vote centers available. Ballots will be printed on demand, allowing voters from any precinct to vote at any center. The Pima County website provides locations of these centers.

Completed early ballots can be dropped off at any branch of the Recorder’s Office on Election Day, including the additional locations but cannot receive blank ballots. Election officials warn that it is now too late to send back vote-by-mail ballots, urging voters to drop off completed ballots.

More than 330,000 early ballots were mailed to Pima County voters on the Active Early Voter List on July 3 with more outgoing as requests come in.

As of July 1, Pima County had 231,815 registered Democrats, 173,977 registered Republicans, and a varying number of other party affiliations. Independents not registered with those parties can request ballots for the Democratic or Republican primaries. Libertarian and Green party primaries are restricted to registered members of those parties. The No Labels Party is not fielding primary candidates, resulting in no choices for its voters unless residing in a non-partisan primary town for mayor and council positions.

The deadline to register for the primary was July 1. Early ballots must be delivered to the Pima County Recorder’s Office by 7 p.m. on Election Day.