PHOENIX — Early voting is underway in this critical battleground state, and Arizonans have been inundated with candidates making get-out-the-vote pleas.
At event after event, candidates, other top political figures, organizers and volunteers urged supporters to submit their ballots now and then keep working.
Vice President Kamala Harris rallied in Chandler Thursday, and former President Donald Trump is campaigning in the state Sunday.
“After you’ve voted early, convince 10 more people to do the same,” first lady Jill Biden told a group of teachers Saturday in Phoenix before sending them out to canvas neighborhoods. “So go out today and help us elect Kamala Harris.”
On the first day of early voting, a steady clip of people arrived at early voting locations in Maricopa County, the state’s most populous county, which includes Phoenix, Scottsdale and Mesa.
Sherry Gourlay was among the first to cast a ballot Wednesday in Scottsdale. The 58-year-old said she voted with her daughter and family members in mind.
“There’s just more on the line this year,” Ms. Gourlay said. “Another Trump term would be catastrophic.”
Others revered Trump as the best president the country has ever had.
“Trump is a true patriot,” said Larry Speagle from a seat with a clear view of Sen. J.D. Vance in Tucson. “Day 1 was 114 days ago, what the hell has [Kamala Harris] been doing?”
The narrow divide in Arizona is reflected in voter registration numbers. Roughly a third of the 4.1 million registered voters are Republicans, about 30% are Democrats and the rest are independents.
Organized labor was out in full force Saturday, with volunteers fanning out across vast Maricopa County. Mrs. Biden gave canvassers talking points on grocery prices, housing affordability, and abortion before they headed out. A group with Unite Here, one of the largest unions, knocked on doors and gave out literature.
Early voting numbers in the first few days last week were down from the records set in 2020.
More than 1.9 million Maricopa County voters were mailed ballots starting Saturday.
Many voters across the state say they deeply distrust the voting process and discount the 2020 results here, where Joe Biden became the first Democratic nominee to win the state since 1996 by the second-narrowest margin in the country — just 10,457 votes.
David Wolf, 35, showed up to cast a ballot in person in Scottsdale rather than put his into a mailbox.
“There’s no way to truly verify where a mail-in ballot came from,” said Mr. Wolf. He voted early for the first time, choosing Trump because of his stricter border policies that he thinks will allow fewer drugs to cross the border.
“I wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have legal immigration,” said Mr. Wolf, whose grandmother emigrated from the Philippines. “What I don’t support is illegal immigration. People are coming across when we don’t know who they are or what they stand for.”
Though Mr. Wolf is voting early due to his travel plans, he is against voting by mail, preferring to vote in person. “You should be able to find time to vote in person, where you can validate your identity and citizenship and cast one ballot,” he said.
The Maricopa County Recorder’s office has devoted extensive time to dispelling such concerns about voting by mail. Communications Director Taylor Kinnerup used the word “failsafe” nearly a dozen times in a session with reporters when describing the steps to verify a mail-in ballot, along with ways the office is working to ensure voters have confidence in the integrity of this election.
She said the state has a stringent process to minimize voter fraud, including a several-step identity verification process and a 24/7 livestream of everywhere ballots are present.
All ballots, in-person and mail-in, are counted in the same room under the watchful eye of observers from both parties.
Voters are combing through a four-page ballot, which includes tossup House races and a marquis Senate race, as well as a proposition that would codify the right to an abortion.
Conversations over five days with more than 100 Arizona voters from a Phoenix auto mechanic’s shop to the dust-filled air on the outskirts of Tucson painted a picture of concerns about election integrity and excitement as both tickets made their way around the state.
Voters cited immigration and the economy as their top concerns. They said they wanted to make history. They said Trump was the rightful president.
A New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena College poll of likely voters released Saturday found Trump led Harris in the state by 51% to 46%.
Sen. J.D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, was making the case for Mr. Trump at the Tucson Speedway last week.
“The best way to make sure your voice is counted is to make sure it’s counted early,” he told supporters who had waited hours in the blistering heat. The Ohio senator spoke to an enthusiastic crowd filling rows of white fold-out chairs while others sought shade among nearby picnic tables. Volunteers handed out water bottles, and his remarks were cut short as the temperature passed triple digits.
Behind a sea of red, white and blue, flanked by cowboy-hat-wearing cacti, voters sat patiently with signs reading Make America Great Again, and Trump-Vance. Many supporters, young and old, came out to hear the hopeful’s plan for the country.
Among them was a father-son duo who were voting for the first time.
Mark Goldrich and his 18-year-old son said this year is their “first time caring” about an election. They described themselves as moderate and said they wanted to hear both sides and “get a firsthand view.”
They don’t plan on voting early, citing the need to take more time to decide which candidates and propositions to support.
Further back in the crowd stood Larry Speagle and his wife Tanya. The self-described “patriots” wearing matching Trump paraphernalia said they have historically voted with mail-in ballots but have become distrustful of the election process since 2020.
“We see what happened last time,” Mr. Speagle said. “I think they pulled some shenanigans with the mail-in ballots, so we’re not taking any chances this time — we’re going straight to the polls on Election Day.”
The Speagles are among a large swath of Arizonans who remain concerned about the integrity of the 2020 race and what’s to come in just over three weeks.
These voters, shielding themselves from the sun with fans and hats, sat through several surrogate speakers, including Trump-era national security advisor Robert O’Brien and the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Whatley. Mr. Whatley said Arizonans need to do two things: get out the vote and “protect the ballot.”
The crowd erupted into cheers and applause when Mr. Vance took the stage. At the podium, Mr. Vance told voters to “vote 10 times” — a playful push that he clarified meant people should vote and then take nine friends and family members with them to the polls.
“I don’t like election season, I like Election Day, but we are where we are my friends … and if the Democrats are taking advantage of it, we have got to do the exact same thing,” Mr. Vance said.
Mr. Vance’s message is part of a recent multimillion-dollar push by the campaign to encourage supporters to vote early and by mail. This contrasts Mr. Trump’s rhetoric in 2020 when he expressed concerns about early voting and then cited mail-in ballots in challenging the election results.
Later that evening, 15 miles away in a gymnasium at Palo Verde High School, Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and everyone sharing the stage with him expressed a similar urgency. “Vote. Vote early. It’s the least you can do,” said Kirsten Engel, running for Congress against Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani.
Angela Eastman, like many across the state, said she is motivated by her family members. Ms. Eastman, who moved to Phoenix from Minnesota, has a 26-year-old daughter. Standing in line at a rally featuring second gentleman Doug Emhoff, she expressed concerns about her daughter’s reproductive rights.
“I’m doing this for her, I want her to have the same rights that I had,” said Ms. Eastman, who was clad in homemade pro-Harris friendship bracelets and a Harris campaign shirt. “We knew that overturning Roe v. Wade was going to change the game. Women are going to flood the polls.”
Ms. Eastman and her friends are working every weekend leading up to election day to mobilize female voters in Phoenix.
Amongst crowded bleachers of people fanning themselves with Harris-Walz signs, excited supporters formed a dance circle as music blared from the gym speakers. The shouts of “Walz” and “We’re not going back” occasionally filled the air. As the rally began, speakers emphasized the importance of getting out to the polls as soon as possible.
“Everybody says Election Day is Nov. 5, but Election Day is today,” said Patrick Robles, the campaign’s southern Arizona political director. “Bring at least five voters with you to the polls.”
Beth Smith, who is co-chair of the 17th Legislative District Democrats, arrived at the rally more than four hours before Mr. Walz took the stage. She expressed her frustration with the direction Mr. Trump wants to take the country and said she felt she had no choice but to “speak up.”
Accompanied by three female members of her Democratic organization, Ms. Smith shared her disappointment in young people and their lack of engagement in this election.
“We should not be out in 100-degree heat. We should not be knocking on doors,” Ms. Smith, 75, told a college-age reporter, “but we’re doing this for people like you.”
• This report was provided courtesy of the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California.
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