Purcell announces changes for special election

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - Tuesday is election day across Arizona, and voters will head to the polls to vote on two propositions.

State election leaders have added more polling places to avoid a repeat of the problems experienced in the April primary.

If you have an early ballot, and you have not dropped it in the mailbox, it's not too late. You can take your ballot in person to a polling place, but you won't have to wait in line. You can go right up to the front and drop it off.

Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell says her office has made a lot of changes, to make sure there is not another debacle as there was during the April Presidential Preference Election.

"I would certainly hope not; we've added 54 polling places from the last time. We don't anticipate the turnout we had in the last one. We've already had a 38% turnout of those who ordered an early ballot, so we've got 545,000 already back in the house," said Helen Purcell.

Voters will vote on Prop 123 and 124. Purcell says, this time there will be more poll workers, more poll books, and the turnout is only expected to be 30-35%. Much less than the April election that caused huge snafus at polling places in Maricopa County.

The Salvation Army in Phoenix is one of the places where people waited up to five hours to vote during the April election. With the increase in polling places, there shouldn't be a repeat of that debacle. The polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

For a full list of polling places visit: http://recorder.maricopa.gov/pollingplace/