Early voting sites open in Pima County

If you have a mail-in ballot you'd like to hand in, or if you want to cast your vote before Election Day, a number of early voting sites are open across Pima County.

The deadline to request that an early ballot be mailed to you was last Friday, but you can still walk in and vote at a dozen locations.

Pima voters set an early record for mail-in ballots: 353,000 local voters had already asked for early ballots (or were on the Permanent Early Voter List) for the Nov. 8 election as the first wave were sent out earlier this month.

Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez reported Oct. 11 that the initial batch of ballots to be mailed exceeded the total 314,258 ballots that were mailed in the 2012 presidential election. In that election, 295,000 were mailed in the first wave.

The most requests made before the voter-registration deadline came from Democrats — 41 percent —  but there were a sizeable number of Independents. The party breakdown was Democratic: 144,835; Republican, 109,911; Libertarian, 2,445; Green Party, 1,028; and party not designated, 95,462.

The last day voters could ask for a mail-in ballot was Friday, Oct. 28. After voters have mailed their ballots back to the Recorder's Office, they can track the status of their ballot online.

While early voting helps people take their time deciding and avoid possible long lines on Election Day, it also has contributed to late election results. To forestall allowing voters to cast multiple ballots, those who ask for early ballots and then go to polls instead are issued provisional ballots, which take longer to process. Of the 27,646 provisional ballots issued in 2012 in Pima County, 15,464 were issued to voters who had been sent early ballots.

Voters can mail back early ballots, or drop them at any early voting site, or at any polling place on Election Day.

You can also vote early, without having a ballot mailed to you, by casting a ballot in person at an early voting site. Those sites are open Monday-Friday through the Friday before Election Day. On Nov. 5 and Nov. 7, emergency voting will be available at some locations.

Here's the list of where you can vote in person before next Tuesday:

Downtown

• Pima County Recorder's Office
• 240 N. Stone Ave.
• Mon-Fri, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
• Emergency voting: Saturday, Nov. 5, 9 a.m.-2p.m., and Monday, Nov. 7., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

East Side

• Recorder's East Side Annex
• 6920 E. Broadway, Suite D
• Mon-Fri, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
• Emergency voting: Saturday, Nov. 5, 9 a.m.-2p.m., and Monday, Nov. 7., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

North Side

• Ascension Lutheran Church
• 1220 W. Magee Rd.
• Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

South Side

• Pima County Recorder's Office Annex
• 6550 S. Country Club Rd.
• Mon-Fri, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
• Emergency voting: Saturday, Nov. 5, 9 a.m.-2p.m., and Monday, Nov. 7., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sahuarita/Green Valley

• Sahuarita Town Hall
• 375 W. Sahuarita Center Way
• Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

University of Arizona

• ASUA administration office
• Student Union Memorial Building, 3rd floor, near bookstore
• Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Ajo

• Salazar-Ajo Library
• 33 Plaza St.
• Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Pascua Yaqui Tribe

• KPYT-LP 100.3 FM
• 7474 S. Camino De Oeste
• Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
• Closed Wednesday, Nov. 2

Tohono O'Odham Nation

• Legislative Chambers
• Sells
• Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

• Tohono O'Odham High School
• Music room
• S.R. 86, Mile marker 74
• Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

• Gu Achi District
• Santa Rosa Multipurpose Building
• Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

• San Xavier District Center
• Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.