PHOENIX — We are 72 days from Election Day 2020. Already Arizona is gearing up, preparing plans to allow folks to vote during the pandemic.
President Donald Trump has cast unsubstantiated doubt on the mail-in voting system, but officials in Arizona maintain that the state has done it for years and it is a safe option.
“Since 2018 we’ve had massive changes, mostly introduced by the onset of COVID-19,” Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes said.
The state got a preview of some of those changes a few weeks ago during the primaries.
The major change? More options to vote.
Fontes said the county will have 80 voting centers up around the county in the week or weeks up to the election season. These voting centers will allow anyone to vote there from the county regardless of where they live. Fontes said the centers will also be open nights and weekends to make voting easier.
“Voters should never have to choose between their health and their right to vote,” Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said.
The safest way to vote, according to Hobbs, is through mail-in voting.
In recent months the president has tried to cast doubt about the mail-in voting process, claiming it could lead to widespread fraud.
“All the naysayers who say it’s not a secure way to vote that people can vote multiple times or whatever else we know that’s not true,” Hobbs said.
"[Arizona] is a model of excellence for mail-in balloting," Governor Doug Ducey said when asked at a past news conference.
Election officials said security protocol has not changed. Each ballot is checked to make sure it’s the real deal, verifying signatures and the address.
Recorder Fontes said he is confident in the postal services to be able to deliver the ballots on time for election day.
Of course to be able to vote you have to be registered.
You can see a calendar on different deadlines and when to mail back your ballot on the recorder website.
