Record turnout possible in first all-mail Tucson election
Reporter: Kevin Keen
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - This Election Day in Tucson will already go down in city history. It’s the first general election done almost entirely through the mail. Voters may make history for another reason Tuesday: record turnout.
“We hope to see this year’s general election be the highest voter turnout ever for the city of Tucson,” city spokesman Michael Graham told KGUN9 News.
Voters are already on track to set a new record for Tuesday’s election with mayoral and city council races. That’s because tens of thousands of ballots have already been mailed in.
“Our highest ever general election was back in 1999,” Graham said. “We were at 41.2 percent.”
Thanks to ballots by mail, we’re already close to beating that. More than 211,000 ballots were sent to registered voters this election. At last count, about 76,000 had been returned by mail. That’s about a 36 percent turnout.
“I think it’s very positive,” said city council member Richard Fimbres. “I think with vote by mail, we’ve been able to get more citizens of Tucson to come out and vote and participate in the process.”
Still, tens of thousands of ballots have not been cast. Voters who haven’t mailed their ballots can cast them at seven voting sites across the city Tuesday, helping reach that record turnout.
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