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Political workers contacting voters about unverified mail-in ballots

Arizona deadline approaches to 'cure' ballots
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In most of Arizona, Tuesday is the last day for voters to act to ensure their mail-in or conditional provisional ballot gets counted.

In Maricopa County, approximately 3,700 mail-in ballots still had unresolved signature matching issues as of Sunday. Voters must call the elections department to confirm their identity to have their votes tabulated. There are also some conditional provisional ballots that require voters to present proper identification prior to counting.

In Arizona, voters have until five business days after the election to cure their ballot, so it can be verified and counted. The deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday in most counties. Voters in Apache, La Paz, and Graham counties have until 5 p.m. Thursday, due to county offices being closed Fridays and Veterans Day.

In Maricopa County, lists of voters with ballot issues were provided to the local political party offices. In the last few days, Republican and Democratic volunteers have been calling, texting, and visiting houses of these voters to alert them about their ballots. County election workers also are trying to contact voters, resulting in some getting multiple reminders.

"Ninety percent of the people that we’ve talked to were very, very thankful that we called them to make sure their vote is counted," said Maricopa County Democratic Party Chairman Steven Slugocki.

Slugocki said Joe Biden is already projected to have enough votes to become president, but some local races remain undecided because a few hundred votes separate the candidates.

"Now every vote is going to matter," Slugocki said.

Voters needing more information on verifying ballots and tabulating votes are encouraged the visit the Arizona Secretary of State's Voter Information Portal.

Got a news tip? Email ABC15 Investigator Melissa Blasius at Melissa.Blasius@abc15.com and follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story indicated Navajo County's deadline was Thursday, but the office was open Friday making the fifth business day Tuesday.