County aims to use only mail ballots for ’18 vote

Plan requires support of supervisors, Legislature

Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes announced a plan Thursday to make sweeping changes to how the county runs elections, including eliminating all polling places as early as 2018 and moving to mail-only ballots.

Fontes, who was elected last year on a platform of overhauling the office, estimated the move could save the county as much as $30 million over the next few years, because outdated pollingplace equipment would not need replacing. He said all-mail voting also would eliminate the difficulty of finding and staffing more than 700 polling places and would improve accuracy in counting.

“The old system, (it) is time, in my mind, to move to the side,” said Fontes, a Democrat. “I don’t know anybody that uses a horse and buggy today, either.”

About 80 percent of Maricopa County voters today use mail ballots, which were implemented less than a decade ago, Fontes said.

Bringing that number up to full participation would simplify a system that currently requires the Recorder’s Office to explain two different ways to vote to 2.1 million registered voters and count polling-place and mail ballots separately.

“It’s going to make things a lot easier,” Fontes said.

For people who forget to mail their ballot in time or need a new one, Fontes plans to open up to 200 locations before and on Election Day to print replacement ballots and accept ballot dropoffs.

But three major hurdles stand in his way:

» Convincing the county Board of Supervisors to support the plan.

» Persuading the Arizona Legislature to change state law to allow 100 percent mail voting in countywide elections.

» And overcoming thousands of voters’ preference to vote in person because of tradition or lack of trust in the mail system.

Fontes said he is aware of the challenges but is optimistic that he can sway people, given the benefits.

He would like to make the transition before Arizona’s 2018 elections for statewide offices and Congress, he said, because relying on outdated polling-place equipment could be problematic. But Fontes said getting the Legislature to act that quickly might be difficult, so a more realistic goal might be 2020.

The Recorder’s Office already is starting to roll out the plan as far as state law allows.

The county will conduct several mailonly local elections later this year, affecting about three-quarters of the county’s voters, Fontes said. The dry run will save the county and jurisdictions thousands of dollars, he said.

Voters eligible for the local elections who traditionally don’t receive a mail-in ballot do not need to do anything extra in 2017 to participate. All registered voters eligible for local elections will automatically receive a ballot. Fontes also outlined two other goals: » Reviewing roughly 40,000 unprocessed voter-registration applications. Fontes said he found boxes of state-issued voter-registration forms that were not processed over at least five years because applicants did not provide proof of citizenship or answer a letter mailed to them requesting proof. Fontes said he does not have a written record of whether the letters were sent. He has instructed staff to record the application attempts, approve applications for which citizenship proof can be found at the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division, and again send letters requesting proof to applicants whose MVD information cannot be found.

» Achieving a nearly final ballot count within 72 hours of an election. Hiring more temporary staff will speed the count without major additional cost, Fontes said. Counting in last November’s election took more than a week to finish. Fontes’ race was not called for 10 days. But more Valley residents will need to step up for training, Fontes said. “We really need the people to join us and move this thing forward,” he said. To sign up, email getinvolved@risc.maricopa.gov or call 602-506-1511.