Friday is last day to vote early in Yuma County primary

Yuma County voters had until Friday to cast an early ballot in Arizona’s July 21 primary, and ballots could still be dropped off at designated sites through 7 p.m. Tuesday. Arizona election officials had set July 14 as the last day to mail back a ballot so it could be counted, leaving in-person return as the safer option for anyone still holding a ballot.

Yuma County Government said early voting began June 24 and ran through July 20. In its 2026 election messaging, the county pointed voters to the former Board of Supervisors building at 198 S. Main St. in Yuma as an early-voting location and promoted the official ballot drop box outside the Somerton Library as an option through Election Day.

The county’s election materials also showed the voting system Yuma residents were working within: vote centers and drop boxes instead of a single neighborhood precinct. That mattered in Yuma, Somerton, San Luis and Wellton, where voters could lose a ballot by waiting too long, dropping it at the wrong location or forgetting a required signature on the envelope.

KAWC’s July 20 election preview told voters that early ballots could be returned at designated drop boxes throughout Yuma County or at any vote center until 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 21. The Citizens Clean Elections Commission also lists July 21, 2026, as Arizona’s state primary date, matching the county’s deadline schedule.

For anyone who had not yet voted, the practical checklist was narrow and unforgiving. If the ballot was still at home, it needed to be marked, signed and returned before the county’s final cutoff. If it had already been mailed, it had needed to enter the mail system by July 14. If it was not going to make that deadline, Yuma County’s remaining vote centers and drop boxes were the only paths left for it to count.