What you need to know about Arizona's Presidential Preference election on March 17

We're just a week away from the Presidential Preference election in Arizona on March 17 and early mail-in ballots are already being counted in Maricopa County.

This election is just for registered democrats as they'll be voting on who they'd like to see as the Democratic presidential nominee. The Maricopa County Elections Department is expecting a record-breaking turnout. 

Election officials are expecting about 100,000 in-person voters for the Presidential Preference election, and because of the predicted turnout, more polling locations were added.

"Instead of the 60 that we had in 2016, we have 229 polling locations including 40 vote anywhere sites," says Erika Flores with the Maricopa County Elections Department.

More than 500,000 early ballots were requested by voters and about 200,000 have already been sent in and are currently being counted. Because Arizona is a no second chance voting state, those of you who've already mailed in your ballot with a candidate no longer in the race, unfortunately, there's nothing you can do.

If you haven't mailed in your ballot but already filled it out for a candidate no longer in the race, Flores says, "They can mark an X on the error that they have so if they had voted for a candidate who has since dropped out, they can just put an X and put an arrow next to another candidate that they want to vote for."

Because of the expected high voter turn out, election officials are keeping a close eye on the coronavirus outbreak. Poll workers will be paying extra attention to keeping the major touchpoints at the site germ-free. 

Scott Jarrett, director of election day, says, "We provide them with Clorox wipes and those instructions and then they can go frequently and wipe down those machines, those check-in stations as well as the voting booths and the pens that the voters will be using."