MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. — Maricopa County will have more than 240 polling locations available for voters to cast their ballot.
Scott Jarrett, Maricopa County Elections Coordinator, said it's a 20%-30% increase over the 2020 general election cycle.
"That's to be able to accommodate the expected voter turnout. We could have anywhere between 300-400,000 in-person voters on election day," Jarret said. "[The] vast majority of our locations will be in churches."
Jarrett said some schools, which traditionally have been polling locations, have opted out, causing them to look for unique locations.
"We were using a mortuary to have a voting location," Jarrett said. "We have a few aquatic centers around the Valley that are also serving, so we're always looking for new partners."
Jarrett said polling locations are selected by a team of three people who scout for places all year and that each location must meet certain requirements including but not limited to:
- Compliant with the American's Disabilities Act
- Sufficient Parking
- Enough power outlets for their equipment
One school district that will not participate as a polling location this election year is Mesa Public Schools.
Scott Thompson, Assistant Superintendent of Business and Support Services at Mesa Public Schools, cited logistical challenges as the reason for them not serving as a polling location.
"We don't have that kind of public-facing space where somebody can just come vote and leave and not have to deal with the logistics of security and all that," Thompson said. "Parking and lines and just everybody coming and going from a campus."
Thompson said they would "love to support the democratic process and be part of elections", but noted that safety and security of their students is their main priority.
"[Parents] expect the gate to be locked. They expect people to be checked into the front office," Thompson said. "They expect us to know 'who are the adults around my kids' and when we can't fulfill that expectation, we have a problem."
Furthermore, Thompson acknowledged there is tension around elections.
"I think that's pretty obvious to anybody at this point," Thompson said. "That affects how people are interacting with whoever they're interacting with when they're trying to vote."
Thom Reilly, co-director of The Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy, said schools have long been a staple location to vote, but since 2020, statistics have shown school participation has dropped from 4% to 12%.
"The reason for this has been the polarization," Reilly said. "The increased voter intimidation against election workers and schools and churches need to weigh the security and safeguarding of their employees and students."
Reilly said since 2020, the atmosphere of intimidation and attack on election workers has been highlighted.
"I think schools are looking at this," Reilly said. "In addition, there's been a rash of school shootings, so you're balancing as a school official and administrator, their need to protect your own students and faculty and teachers with this kind of growing polarization and intimidation."
Reilly said in turn, counties are tasked with finding polling locations which could impact costs.
"Churches and schools have allowed them as part of their civic participation to utilize their facilities with minimal costs," Reilly said. "That's changing now, so county and state officials need to purchase places, [such as] warehouses and other places that are driving their budgets up."
Steve Watson, Maricopa County Superintendent who oversees bond overriding and board elections, said they want people to be engaged.
"I actually believe that having our school sites be polling places is so important because we want our next generation to value voting," Watson said.
Watson said in his experience as an elections official in the state, polling locations have been safe and well run.
"You might have an occasional person who's frustrated because they were told that they can vote here," Watson said. "Those things happen occasionally, but on the whole, our election locations, no matter where they are, are very safe and provide a really good opportunity for the community to come out and cast their votes."
Maricopa County will release a list of polling locations 45 days before election day which can be found here.
Decision 2024
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