AZ News to Know: Maricopa's Plan to Hand Early Voting Sites to Election Day, Friday's Mail-Ballot Request Deadline, and Valley License Plate Reader Updates

Summary: Early voting is open across Arizona, so vote before Halloween. Maricopa County showed how 46 voting sites will switch from the Recorder's Office to the Elections Department before Election Day, the deadline to request a mail ballot is Friday, October 23, and Tempe and Fountain Hills keep working on license plate reader rules.

ARIZONA — Don't have a spooky voting experience. Vote before Halloween. Early voting is already open in every Arizona county. Best: vote early in person and show your ID. Better: drop your ballot in an official drop box. Good: if you mail it, mail it by Friday, October 23. Find your voting location at AZVote.org.

How Maricopa Hands Voting Sites to Election Day

In Maricopa County, two offices run elections. The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office (MCRO) runs early voting, and the Maricopa County Elections Department, which reports to the Board of Supervisors, runs Election Day. That means the same voting sites have to switch from one office’s equipment to the other’s before Election Day. At this morning’s Informal meeting, the Board of Supervisors heard the plan for that switch. The County has not posted the presentation yet, but a slide photographed in the room shows 46 sites switching over in three waves: 1 vote center Thursday evening, 33 Friday evening, and 12 Saturday morning. The slide does not give dates.

Each site gets one truck with a Recorder’s Office driver and an Elections Department driver. The crews swap out the SiteBooks (the electronic poll books used to check voters in), the ballot-on-demand printers (which print the right ballot for each voter), and the cabling. The target is 45 to 90 minutes after polls close, and a practice run took 40 minutes. The slide also says: “Election Day Ballots are not installed on MCRO Printers, MCRO Printers will not work on Election Day.”

Supervisor Thomas Galvin posted: “46 election sites will be transitioning from Recorder’s Office to BOS by Nov 3rd Election Day.”

Taylor Kinnerup (@TaylorKinnerup) posted: “Elections admin anticipate being able to transition site equipment—as is now required following the MCRO settlement—in roughly 40 minutes.”

The meeting video is now posted:

Other Maricopa Election Updates

There’s no update yet on the Chandler-Gilbert printer tray issue. The Recorder’s Office’s October 16 statement still stands, and no forensic result has been released.

The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office posted: “The deadline to request an early ballot by mail is this Friday, October 23, 2026.” and “Early voters should call 602-506-1511 to request an early ballot by mail.” That number is the Recorder’s STAR hotline.

Maricopa County Elections also posted that it is hiring Temporary Pre-Tabulation Ballot Processors for the November general election.

Valley License Plate Reader Updates

Several Valley cities and towns are writing rules for automated license plate readers (ALPRs), the cameras that photograph and log passing license plates. The Tempe City Council took public comment on its ALPR ordinance, O2026.46, on October 15. Official minutes are not posted yet. An unofficial transcript summary from Open Publica lists nine speakers on the item: eight supported a ban, including three (one of them the ACLU of Arizona) who asked the Council to close loopholes, and one asked the Council to continue or reject it. Two more residents spoke in general public comment in favor of keeping Flock cameras. These counts are unofficial until the minutes are posted.

The Fountain Hills Town Council has Ordinance 26-17 on its Tuesday, October 20 agenda at 5:30pm as Item 9.d, for discussion only, with no vote scheduled. The online Request to Comment form at fountainhillsaz.gov/publiccomment closed at 12:00pm on Monday, October 19. After that, comment cards go to the Town Clerk in person before the meeting starts.

Board of Supervisors This Week

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Formal agenda for Wednesday, October 21, has not changed since Friday. To speak, fill out a speaker form at the meeting and turn it in no later than 10 minutes after the meeting starts; speakers get 2 minutes. Written comments go to agenda.comments@maricopa.gov.

Education only. EZcivics.org does not endorse candidates and does not tell anyone how to vote.

________

EZCivics.org is funded by our readers. If you found this news brief educational, consider chipping in to fuel our work by going HERE.