Arizona Secretary of State: Over 1.4 million ballots cast in primary
PHOENIX - Officials with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office say voter turnout for the August primary election reached a historic level.
According to a statement released on the afternoon of August 17, voter turnout for the primary reached 36.45%, with 1,451,461 ballots cast.
In comparison, according to data provided by the Secretary of State's Office, 989,754 ballots were cast for the 2016 primary election, which was held on August 30, 2016, translating to a voter turnout of 29.1%.
Many votes cast via early ballots
"Close to 88% of voters cast early ballots in the 2020 Primary Election," officials wrote in the statement.
State elections officials also spoke on the issue of mail-in ballots, stating that ballot-by-mail is authenticated through a "rigorous signature verification process conducted by trained election officials."
"Voters can verify whether their ballot has been sent to them, and whether it has been accepted by their county elections department after it has been mailed back," said Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, in the statement. "Every ballot is tracked and audited before and after every election."
In addition, elections officials say ballots are stored in a secure area with limited access, and tracked in a secure database.