ID required to vote in Arizona

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — In a telephone interview with Steve Kizer, elections director of Apache County, he urged the people to remember to bring government-issued identification to the polls on Tuesday.

Arizona has a law that requires photo identification to vote. Polls are open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Anyone in line at 7 p.m. will still be allowed to vote, Kizer said, even if it takes hours.

Kizer also said that like many counties across the country, Apache County is expecting record voter turn out. The county has nearly 50,000 registered voters, he said.
“If we’re an example, I think across the country there’s going to be more early voting than we’ve ever seen in history, and that’s so far the case here,” he said. “Still, Apache County tends to have low early voter turnout ... A lot of people on the Navajo Nation want to go to the polls.”
Apache County had third highest voter turnout in the state with 34 percent, Kizer said.

“I’m expecting around 80 percent for this one. I think we’ll have the most people voting in this election than any election in Apache County,” he said.

“It’s important that they know the proper precinct to vote in, because if they go to the wrong precinct, their vote doesn’t count,” Kizer said.

Voter registration cards should have voter precincts, but if anyone still needs to know, the Apache County recorder’s office can be contacted. However, the recorder’s office is extremely busy right now, Kizer cautioned.

“The main thing is to be patient because there will be long lines,” he said. “In more populated areas, there’s going to be huge lines and it’s going to take awhile. The poll workers, their job is to make sure that the process goes through correctly, that the laws are complied with. Their job isn’t to be quick about it so we ask people to be patient.”