Arizona Voters Heading to the Polls on Election Day, Officials Expecting Late Spike in Numbers

TUCSON, Ariz.—If there was one constant in the Arizona primary, Democrats tended to vote by mail, Republicans in-person.

At least, that’s the way it was at the polling place at Ellie Towne Flowing Wells Community Center in Tucson, a city where the partisan voter split is roughly 50/50 Republican versus Democrat.

According to the City of Tucson website, a total of 286,203 ballots in six precincts were mailed in the 2022 primary on Aug. 2.

Among Republican voters, the issue boiled down to trust—or distrust—in the electoral system.

Sallie Grumka of Tucson, Ariz., said she voted a straight America First Republican ticket in the Arizona primary on Aug. 2, 2022. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

Many opted to vote in person to cast their ballots correctly, said precinct poll director Heather Scott.

Some GOP voters also wanted to know how they could track their ballot online, she said.

“We’re getting a lot of people coming in with early ballots,” Scott told The Epoch Times. “Our demographic usually is that Democrats come in [to vote] towards the end of the day. With COVID, everybody wanted to vote by mail.”

Scott said voter turnout was “pretty busy” at 9 a.m.—”busy if we get more than 10 people in an hour, that’s busy. Because, normally, we don’t.

“I like that it’s open to all the precincts. Now, we’re getting a variety of people—not just my regular people, which are few and far between. They come sporadically throughout the day. We’re getting a rush now and then, which is much nicer.”

Voters ‘Keyed Up’

Scott said election workers were braced for a coming spike in voters arriving later in the day.

“I think we’re going to see it spike quite a bit. They’re keyed up about this election. There’s also this sense that we need to