Yuma County gearing up for Election Day

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - With only six days out from this important election, Yuma County residents continue to vote early at the recorder’s office, but there are some things you need to know about your mail-in ballot.

For mail-in ballots, the county is now encouraging you to take it to any ballot box across town, since it may not make it in time if you mail it in.

Although, you can also drop it off at any polling location on Tuesday.

If you’re wanting to vote on election day, the county will have 11 sites to choose from.

Robyn Stallworth Pouquette is the Yuma County Recorder.

“We are expecting a large turnout on election day. We have a large number of early ballots returned. So, a large percentage of voters are voting early.”

To keep you safe while voting, the county recorder’s office is making sure the facilities are capable of following c-d-c guidelines.

This means machines will be sanitized after each use.

“We also are requiring masks in compliance with the Yuma county mandate, and any event voter does not have one available we will have masks available, and we appreciate that. We appreciate the voter's patience in working through those things with us, to make sure that everyone stays safe and healthy.”

The Yuma Civic Center and the St. John Neumann Catholic Church polling locations will have double the staff and equipment to handle a larger number of voters.

At each polling center, there are a couple of different ways to vote.

“You can obtain a paper ballot. Or you can mark your ballot, on an electronic machine, none of our machines are connected to the internet. So our electronic touchscreens are actually ballot marking devices, you can use that device to make your choices on the ballot, and it will print you out a paper ballot for you to review.

"Then they'll take you over to make sure that the ballot goes through a tabulator which is our counter.”

If you have already sent your mail-in ballot, there is a way to check the status of your vote on the Arizona Secretary of State’s website - click here.