About 42 percent of Pima County’s registered voters have already cast their vote in Tuesday’s general election, a combination of mail-in ballots and early voting, officials said.
Nearly 131,000 early ballots had been submitted as of Tuesday night, said Chris Roads, the chief deputy recorder in the Pima County Recorder’s Office.
Democrats have turned in more ballots so far — 53,649 — compared to about 45,434 cast by registered Republicans.
Those on the permanent early voter list not associated with any political party, so-called independents, trail further behind with 30,926 returned ballots.
However, the GOP is slightly ahead in terms of the percent of early ballots returned when compared to the Democrats. Roughly 47 percent of Republican voters have returned their mail ballots, while 44 percent of Democrats have done so.
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The number of early ballots in Cochise County is slightly higher. The Recorder’s Office there reports 50 percent of the 34,800 early ballots it mailed have been returned.
A breakdown by political party for Cochise County was not immediately available on Wednesday, a county recorder’s official said.
Both figures are ahead of the statewide average, which is roughly one-third of the total number of early ballots being mailed back in, according to figures released by the Arizona Democratic Party.
The statewide estimate, however, may not reflect all mail-in ballots returned as some reporting in smaller counties is lagging behind the large, better-staffed metropolitan counterparts.
The Pima County Recorder’s Office is recommending that anyone with an early ballot put it in the mail no later than Friday.
After Friday, those with mail-in ballots can drop them off at the county Recorder’s Office or any of the Recorder’s Office early voting sites.
Ballots may also be dropped off at any polling place on Tuesday.
