Early voting still popular with most Arizona voters

By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX -- Just one out of every 10 registered voters want to get rid of early ballots in Arizona.
And if the figures from the new statewide survey by OH Predictive Insights seem familiar, they should: It comes close to matching the 89% of Arizonans who voted early in the 2020 election.
But there is strong sentiment about tightening up security.
The online, opt-in poll of 753 registered voters conducted earlier this month comes as the Republican-controlled Senate Government Committee advanced a measure earlier this week to kill virtually all early voting.
Under HB 2289, only those who are out of state, in the military or confined to hospitals would be entitled to vote by mail. Everyone else who wanted some say in election outcomes would have to show up at their local polling location.
Arizona has had some form of mail-in voting for a century. And there has been no-excuse early voting since 1991.
The familiarity and comfort with the process, which does not exist in many other states, was reflected in the survey. For example, those who have lived in Arizona for at least five years were among those who most like early voting.
And while Democrats were more supportive, even two thirds of those registered as Republicans back being able to vote by mail.
But Hispanics were less enthusiastic about being able to vote early than non-Hispanic whites.
The survey also comes ahead of a measure set to be on the November ballot that would require those casting early ballots to include certain identifying information inside the envelope.
Right now they need only sign the envelope, with election workers comparing the signature with what is on file. The proposal voters will consider also would require a date of birth and at least one other piece of information like a driver's license number, last four digits of the social security number, or a unique number assigned by the secretary of state.
The poll results suggest it is likely to be approved, with 64% of those questioned in the survey in support of requiring more verification on mail-in ballots, with just 14% opposed.
The survey has a margin of error of 3.6%.
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