Advocates celebrate expanded Maricopa County early voting sites

Maricopa County will have more than a dozen early voting sites open ahead of the state’s primary election on July 21, an expansion that activists are hailing as a win amid ongoing spats between the county’s election officials.

Standing down the street from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors offices in downtown Phoenix, Gina Mendez, an organizer with Living United for Change in Arizona, called the increase in voting sites a “victory for voting access.” The board approved an early voting plant that increased the number of voting sites from 12 to 16.

“That means that voters will have more opportunities to cast their ballots,” Mendez said. “More working families, seniors, students, rural voters, voters with disabilities, Black and brown and indigenous communities, Latino and immigrant communities all across Maricopa County will have access to early voting.”

Mendez lauded the board’s actions as “holding the line” against Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, who has been criticized by progressive groups for what they view as efforts to chip away at trust in the county’s election processes. Heap and the county board of supervisors have been at odds since he took office and the two have been entrenched in a legal battle over election duties for more than a year.



https://azmirror.com/briefs/advocates-celebrate-expanded-maricopa-county-early-voting-sites/