American Majority Action Drives Conservative Early Voter Turnout

American Majority Action Drives Conservative Early Voter Turnout

By Matthew Holloway |

On Tuesday, during the early hours of Election Day, American Majority Action (AMA) announced that with record numbers of early voters in the state of Arizona, it had exceeded 3.25 million voter contacts in its targeted voter group and conducted over 600,000 live conversations with them. In so doing, the group stated that it led the effort to encourage conservative voters to vote early.

Arizona Executive Director of American Majority Action Tracy DuCharme said in the statement:

“We focused our Arizona efforts on generating more absentee ballots and changing the voting behavior of low propensity conservative voters. We have been working with our partners to get more conservatives to vote absentee, whether through the mail or in person. We are having face-to-face conversations with voters at the doors, and through their phones with live calls and personal text messages.

Our absentee ballot generation plan was extremely successful and now 68.98% of conservatives who requested a ballot have returned them. We have engaged in nearly 3 million live contacts over phone calls, door knocks, and text messages with targeted voters. While they are tired of being bombarded through the airwaves, we have found people still appreciate personal conversations about the issues that face us all each day. We’re making a lasting impact on our state, one conversation at a time. I’m proud of the work AMA has done here in Arizona, and I know we’ll continue this mission for years to come.”

AMA credited the employment of advanced canvassing technology in its statement adding, “Face-to-face conversations are the highest form of voter engagement, and are shown to greatly increase election turnout. AMA’s activist groundswell is powered by Voter Gravity’s groundbreaking technology that allows staff to quickly and accurately get out the vote through micro-targeting voters.”

According to the Arizona Mirror, as Election Day voting commenced, 785,231 Republicans had already voted early for a turnout of 52.71% as compared to 643,450 Democrats and 466,140 independents.

Final voting data for the 2024 election is not yet available, however, President Donald Trump has been declared the winner of Arizona’s eleven electoral votes. And as of this report, in the race for the U.S. Senate, Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego currently leads Kari Lake 1,381,684 votes to 1,348,362 votes.

Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.

Opinion: Vote Today To Determine Winners And Losers Without Delay

Opinion: Vote Today To Determine Winners And Losers Without Delay

Arizona voters deserve to know election results within hours, not weeks. There’s one important step we can take to make this a reality.

By Warren Petersen |

We’re in the final stretch of the 2024 election cycle. In just a matter of days, we should know the outcome of races and issues on the ballot that are important to the lives and livelihoods of Americans and the Grand Canyon state.

The key word is “should.” Unfortunately, as recent history has shown us, receiving results on winners and losers may not happen in a timely fashion in our all-important swing state.

During the last several election cycles, Arizona was in the national spotlight with embarrassing headlines because of election issues. Citizens have been rightly frustrated over delayed results and day-of voting problems. However, we don’t have to perpetuate these narratives again come November. By voting early in-person, people can avoid day-of voting problems and know the final outcomes of races on election night, instead of weeks later.  

If more people understood how votes are counted, they would probably change their voting behavior. The first batch of results appearing on T.V. screens at 8 p.m. on election night are the ballots that were dropped off, or mailed in, before 7 p.m. the Friday before election day. Then, from 9 p.m. until about midnight, results start coming in from people who voted in person on election day. If this was how everyone voted, we would likely know the results by midnight despite close races. But close races, and the phenomena known as “late earlies,” have thrown a wrench into the process and are prolonging results.

Arizona has been the epicenter for close races. In 2022, several races, with millions of votes cast, were decided by just a few hundred votes. These close races have not only made your vote more important than ever, but they have also created a situation where the winners of races cannot be determined until nearly every single vote is counted, and that takes quite a bit of time.  

Many people don’t realize this, but if you drop off your early ballot on election day, which is also known as a “late early,” it does not get counted for days. When ballots are dropped off on election day, they must go through the signature verification process. If there are problems with your signature or ballot, then your ballot needs to be “cured.” The county has five days to cure a ballot, and if the county cannot reach you to cure your ballot within that time frame, then it does not get counted at all.  

It can be frustrating that election officials have not been able to administer elections without this issue, but citizens can take action to avoid voting delays and election result delays. Vote early in person, Monday through Saturday, until election day. Some vote centers in Maricopa County are even open on Sundays.  Early voting locations can be found at www.beballotready.vote.  

Don’t let our elections drag on, and don’t let yourself become disenfranchised because of an issue with a ballot dropped off on election day. The future of our state and our nation are dependent on every single vote. The country is watching and waiting for our important swing state to get this right and to provide results in a timely manner.

Warren Petersen is the President of the Arizona State Senate and represents Legislative District 14. You can email him at wpetersen@azleg.gov.

Presidential Candidates Visit Arizona As Early Voting Begins

Presidential Candidates Visit Arizona As Early Voting Begins

By Daniel Stefanski |

As early voting starts across Arizona, Republican and Democrat nominees for President, Vice President – and their surrogates – barnstormed the state to reach voters ahead of the pivotal contest.

Several major events are taking place across Arizona as the November General Election nears.

On Tuesday, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff touched down in Arizona to rally voters for his wife, the Democrat nominee for President, Kamala Harris.

During Emhoff’s event, protestors made their views known about the Israel-Hamas War.

U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Steve Scalise appeared with the Trump Campaign at a Phoenix rally to increase support for the Republican ticket.

On Wednesday, U.S. Senator J.D. Vance, the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee, stopped by the state, touching base with voters in Mesa and in Tucson.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democrat Vice-Presidential nominee, also rallied supporters in Chandler and in Tucson on Wednesday.

Walz and Emhoff joined forces on Wednesday morning at a local cafe.

Harris was in Phoenix Thursday for a highly anticipated event.

The First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, has announced plans to campaign for the Harris-Walz ticket over the weekend in the state.

Finally, Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee for President of the United States, has scheduled a rally for Prescott Valley on Sunday.

Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.

Early Voting Has Begun In Arizona

Early Voting Has Begun In Arizona

By Daniel Stefanski |

Early voting has officially commenced across the crucial swing state of Arizona.

Arizona political parties are encouraging their voters to cast their ballots as early as possible as the pivotal election in November nears.

The Arizona Democratic Party posted, “ARIZONA: Early voting begins today & your mail-in ballot should arrive soon. We have so much at stake this election – from the presidency to flipping our Republican-controlled state legislature. Make a plan to vote…”

The Republican Party of Arizona stated, “Early Voting starts TODAY! Don’t wait – cast your vote early for President Trump and Republicans up and down the ballot. Check the status of your ballot and find a vote center near you at Arizona.Vote! EVERY. VOTE. COUNTS.”

The AZGOP also shared a video clip from a recent speech from Chair Gina Swoboda, where she encouraged listeners to vote by mail to avoid any potential issues at the polling locations.

Last week, the Arizona Libertarian Party alerted its followers on social media that early voting would soon begin.

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes also promoted the start of early voting in his state, encouraging interested individuals to visit Arizona.Vote “for all your Arizona election needs.”

In the Republican stronghold of Yavapai County, the Recorder there highlighted the beginning of early voting and shared a website for local voters to find locations and time to cast their ballots over the next month.

Additionally, the Pima County Recorder’s Office posted information about early voting in this southern Arizona jurisdiction, including for the 19 early voting sites under its purview.

Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.

Global IT Outage Shutters Arizona’s Early Voting Operations

Global IT Outage Shutters Arizona’s Early Voting Operations

By Staff Reporter |

The global IT outage that occurred Thursday night impacted Arizona’s early voting operations well into Friday.

Arizona’s three largest counties — Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal — were impacted by the outage. Together, they account for over 80 percent of the state’s population. 

In Maricopa County some vote centers’ check-in systems weren’t functioning, explained an elections department spokesperson.

“The vote center equipment is connected via a network to facilitate voter check in and cast their ballots,” said the spokesperson. 

Maricopa County started the day with a few vote centers open. That number grew to 14 by the afternoon.

The outage impacted Pima County’s online system to request a mail-in ballot. As a result, early voting has been limited, with election workers providing provisional ballots instead.

Pinal County early voting was restored hours after the outage. 

A majority of employee computer and server technologies unrelated to election operations were also impacted across Arizona’s counties.

The outage occurred through Microsoft’s partner CrowdStrike. The Austin, Texas-based software company said in a statement that the outage wasn’t caused by a cyber attack or security incident, but rather a defect in a single content update to its “Falcon Sensor” software for Windows hosts intended to protect against hackers. Mac and Linux hosts weren’t impacted.

CrowdStrike provides antivirus software to Microsoft for Windows devices. After 16 hours, Microsoft reported that all impacted apps and services had recovered. 

The secretary of state’s office clarified that voter rolls weren’t affected by the outage. 

In a press release, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes reassured voters that the registration system was secure and operational. Fontes noted that the closed, air-gapped tabulation networks were unaffected, and that access has been restored fully to agency computers used for verifying petition signatures. 

“The current global outage is affecting systems worldwide and is not specific to elections or Arizona,” said Fontes.

Fontes clarified that the closed, air-gapped nature of the tabulation networks means that election-support infrastructure, such as email and web servers, are on separate systems. 

“[It] is important to note that vote counting was not impacted at all by this event,” said Fontes. “No significant operational delays have been identified at this time.” 

Arizona’s voting operations weren’t the only ones impacted. Both government agencies and private industries were affected: airports, airlines, banks, broadcasters, emergency 911 call centers, and hospitals were all affected. Among CrowdStrike users are over half of the nation’s Fortune 500 companies. 

United, American, Delta, and Allegiant airlines were grounded overnight at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. Southwest Airlines was unaffected because they operate on Windows 3.1: a version over 30 years old. 

Cochise County didn’t mention elections-related outages, but did report that their 911 dispatch center and sheriff’s department were impacted and required their IT team’s work. The Phoenix Police Department also experienced issues with its computerized 911 dispatch center.

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