PHOENIX — Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, but some of you in Arizona may be making your choices 27 days earlier as early voting starts on Wednesday, Oct. 9.
If the turnout during the primary election can shed light on what's to come, Maricopa County said 95 percent of voters this July participated in the primary election by casting an early ballot.
“In fact a third of those actually voted in the first week of early voting, so this really impacts the get out the vote and the campaigns,” said ASU professor Thom Reilly.
Reilly is the director of the Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy. He shared that this voting trend means campaigns must get out their messages sooner if they’re hoping to change minds.
“The campaigns have to do their homework a lot earlier,” said Reilly. “Traditionally campaigns said, you know nationally after Labor Day is when they kick it off and it becomes much more intense, and that's long gone.”
Reilly also said independent voters could swing Arizona’s results this election.
“The latest polls from the Secretary of State’s office is about 37 percent are not part of the two parties (Democrat or Republican) which now has eclipsed the Republican party at 35 percent,” said Reilly. “We have no idea how independents are going to vote. They're all over the place and they're going to be even more impactful in Arizona.“
Reilly shared that independent voters typically underperform in the primaries but overperform during the general elections. He said this means their impact is very unpredictable.
He also added we’re in unprecedented voting territory and it will no doubt be an election to remember.
Reilly also said Arizona is no stranger to early voting. In fact, the state has been doing it for a long time.
“People think this is new. So in Arizona, we’ve been doing this since 1918. Now originally that was for the military. A couple years later they changed it to allow people who couldn’t show up on voting day. Over the next couple decades, they expanded to disabled and elderly, and in 1991 it was no fault basically you didn't have to give a reason to vote,” said Reilly.
Arizona’s voter registration deadline is Oct. 7.
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