Apache County early voting begins for July 21 primary election

Early voting opened in Apache County on June 24 for the July 21, 2026 primary election, and residents can now cast ballots before summer schedules and monsoon weather make Election Day harder to manage. The county is also mailing early ballots now, while the Apache County Recorder’s Office in St. Johns gives voters a place to vote in person at 75 West Cleveland Street.

The biggest change for Apache County voters is the switch to a vote-center model. Starting with the July 21 primary, registered voters can vote at any of 35 Vote Center locations across the county instead of being limited to a single assigned polling place. That shift matters in a county where communities are spread out and many voters live far from the county seat. Apache County Elections, under the direction of the clerk of the Board of Supervisors, administers, prepares, conducts and tallies federal, state and county elections under Arizona law.

The local ballot carries direct stakes for Apache County communities. In St. Johns, the city says all registered voters will vote in the July 21 primary and again in the Nov. 3 general election, and four city council candidates are in the 2026 cycle. City rules also allow a candidate who wins a majority of votes in the primary to be declared elected without a general election if statutory requirements are met. In Eagar, voters will consider four council member seats in 2026, and the town’s candidate filing window ran from Feb. 23 through March 23. Eagar’s primary-election voter registration deadline was June 22.

Arizona’s open-primary rules also give independent voters a choice. Independents can select a Democratic, Republican or local non-partisan ballot through the county recorder for the primary. For voters who still need to act, July 10 is the last day to request a ballot by mail, July 14 is the deadline to mail it back and July 17 is the last day to vote early in person.

The June 22 voter-registration deadline has passed, but the election calendar now moves quickly toward the July 21 primary, with the next local decisions set by turnout at the county’s vote centers, the St. Johns recorder’s office and early-ballot mailings already underway.