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by Lori Cinnamond, PC, Precinct 171
LD9 PCs and volunteers are focusing this winter on urging people to vote by mail by getting on PEVL: the Permanent Early Voting List. Before vote-by-mail became popular, most folks voted at the polls on Election Day or at an early-voting location. For folks unable to get to the polls, the Pima County Recorder offered the option to vote by mail via absentee ballot. But those voters needed to request a ballot for each election, burdensome both to voters and the recorder’s office. So was born PEVL, which automatically sends registered voters ballots for every election in which they are eligible to vote.
Arizona law enables eligible voters to get onto PEVL in two ways: [1] on the voter registration form or [2] on a separate short form. Data have shown that people are more likely to vote if they vote by mail. According to the recorder’s website, turnout for 2016 was 83% among vote-by-mail voters. In LD9, polling places accounted for less than 14% of the votes cast in the 2016 general election.
Many states have adopted full or partial vote-by-mail as the only way to vote. Oregon and Washington have eliminated voting at polls altogether. Voting by mail saves taxpayer money by eliminating the cost of operating polling places. Voting by mail saves voters gas money and time off from work. Most importantly, mail-in ballots increase voter turnout.
The biggest misconception about voting by mail is that those ballots are not counted unless there is a close election. Not so! Ballots received before Election Day are the first that the Department of Elections count and are included in the first set of results reported on Election Day. Ballots postmarked by Election Day but not received until afterward are not counted on Election Day. The moral of the story is: Every vote counts, and the sooner a ballot is received, the sooner it is counted.
For more information, please download our list of PEVL FAQs. To download a PEVL form, go to; https://www.recorder.pima.gov/docs/PEVL_Form.pdf.
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