Arizona has seen a decline in early voting compared to recent years, with only 51.7% of registered voters voting early - about 300,000 less voters than in the 2020 general election, according to data compiled by Uplift from Arizona county recorder offices.
Most notable is the drop in registered Democrats voting early. In 2020, 36.5% of early voters were Democrats.
However, this year 32.6% of early voters were Democrats and only 29% of those voted early. While the number of Democrats voting early has fallen, the number of Republicans voting early has risen.
This year, 40.9% of all early returns were Republicans compared to 37% in 2020. Even though only about half of registered voters have submitted an early ballot, Republicans still have an edge with the gap widening between the number of registered Republicans and Democrats compared to previous years.
In 2020, there were 31.29% registered Democrats, 34.74% registered Republicans and 33.14% registered Independents. There has been a steady decline in registered Democrats and a steady increase in registered Republicans since then. In 2022, there were 30.66% registered Democrats, 34.64% registered Republicans and 32.89% registered Independents. And, this year, there are 35.77% registered Republicans, 29% registered Democrats and 33.69% registered Independents. While the percentage of registered Independents fell in 2022, it started to climb back up again this year.
