SPEAKER_00 0:11

Thank you for bearing with me with this horrible head uh cold thing I have going on. Sorry, my voice is so strange. I have Liz Olmsted on the phone with the Navajo County Republican uh committee. She is the vice chair. Liz, how are you this afternoon? I'm great, thank you. Good, good. Okay, Liz, it is voting time, and I was kind of stunned to see how few people have shown up for early voting, right?

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Absolutely. It's it's it's shocked me too compared to what it has been in the past.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Yeah, this is just crazy. Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

And we have um just so you know that we've only had probably about 5,700 early ballots returned or people coming in to vote early. And that is, you know, we have we have 78,000 um uh voters registered. And uh if I believe there was probably um, you know, we've got 35,000 Republicans that are registered to vote, and we've gotten 5,000 or 6,000 vote people coming in. Um, you know, this is not acceptable, people. We need you to go out and vote. This is your right, this is your voice. This you make the difference in our county and in our state. And it's so important to have great representation that represents our values. So I'm gonna say get out and vote on July 21st. Voting centers are open from 6 to 7. Um you can get you can email or excuse me, go to the website Navajo CountyAz.gov, click on the recorder's office, and you can locate where you can vote wherever you're located. We have voting centers, which means you do not have to vote in an area near your home. So you need to go to that website, Navajo Countyaz.gov, or you can call 928-524-4192, let them know where you're going to be located at, and they can give you a voting center that's near you. And they're seriously, there's no excuse. They're open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. We need you to get a vote. It's your voice, it's your time. We we we have to save our um state and our county.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

And and looking at the Republican, Arizona primary Republican turnout so far as of July 8th, 2026, okay? Listen to these totals, all right? Now, um I'll tell you what, Gila is looking huge. 30%, they've got in, right? 30% of their votes. That's the biggest one. But then you got Maricopa, almost 9%, Yuma, 7.2, Pima, you know, almost 9%, Mojave, 7.2, Coconino, 6.5. Okay, but then you get to Navajo and Apache. Okay, everybody, just want to alert you. Navajo, 0.20%. What the heck? And Apache 0% reporting so far. I mean, to me that's just crazy. We we've got to get out and vote. So Navajo 0.20. And I know a lot of times in an off-year, you know, um, you know, Republicans don't show up, but think about this. You have five candidates right now vying for our district seven as our district seven representatives, two of them, right? We have five people vying for that. There's all kinds of things are so important in this primary, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Absolutely. I you know, our county is, you know, going to be affected by who we get into office. And if we don't get out and vote, we won't have our representation down in the state. And if we don't get out and vote, we may not have representation in um Washington. So and it's just it's so, so important. It's you know, it's like how how do you change things? Yeah. You go in you go out there, that's your that's your voice. I can't say it anymore. I I mean I I talk to people, um, and you know, they say, Oh, I don't I don't want to vote. It's your it's it's it it's one of your freedoms.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Yeah. We're the lowest yeah, Navajo and Apache are the two lowest counties in the state right now.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Yeah. It it and I'm gonna put this out there too, Janine, is that it the time that we're voting July twenty first, we usually vote in the first week in August. And so people are on vacation with their children. I mean, that is a lot of things. And then we everything starts over um the 4th of July. People are on trips, people are visiting family. We would have the 250th um birthday for America, and people wanted to celebrate that with the people they love because it was such a it's a it's a one time in a lifetime. So, you know, there's a lot of people that so now people are getting back into the group, but we are only five days out until election day. Right. Five days away.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

And so many of those people are live in other counties too, and they're they may they're managing to vote. So guys, get off your duff. Let's do it. Yeah, July 21st. It's Tuesday. Tuesday is election day. And if you are sitting there and you have your early ballot, you can't mail it now, it's too late. You need to walk it in on July 21st with your driver's license, okay, so they can verify your signature and then walk it in that day, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Absolutely, absolutely. But you know, the most important thing is to find out where you need where your voting center is, so that you can vote and you can make those arrangements. Now is the time. If you have to ask for, you know, you don't want to wait till the end of the day, maybe you can go during your lunch hour. And some of these there there is like 37 voting centers within the county. And so some of those will be busy, some will not. So you may be able to go into one and go in, vote, and be out in ten minutes. But it's it you need to take that 10 minutes, that 30 minutes, whatever it takes to go in and vote. And I'm gonna tell you right now, don't be the people at five minutes to seven that are running in to throw their ballots in the ballot box so that they get counted. Do not do that. Do not wait to the last second to get your ballot in.

unknown 6:03

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

You need to have ballots turned in. We do have drop boxes within the county, and you can find out those locations. Um the county has those locations at the Navajo County AZ.gov recorder's office or the 928-524-4192. We do have drop boxes, they do come and pick them up daily, but we don't want to wait to the very last minute to say, oh, I'm gonna go run in and vote. Make a plan.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

And and um there were problems, there have been some problems this year um with the mail-in ballots going out and getting to where they're supposed to be. So if you were supposed to get a mail-in ballot like I was, okay, and I did not get mine, my husband got his. There were a lot of them lost in the shuffle. Tell us what happened at the Board of Supervisors meeting. You heard uh Dave Marshall speak, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Right, I did. I heard and I yes, basically what has happened is the um mail-in ballots, um, as you know, all of our mail has to go from here to Phoenix, and then Phoenix distribution sends it out. So all of the ballots that are mailed out to um voters here in Navo County, um, all parties, are uh mailed out from Phoenix. Somehow during the Phoenix distribution, when they run them through, ballots were um thrown out as undeliverable. Um and so what happens, there was right now we probably between all the parties, we probably have about a thousand twenty-four ballots that um were um kicked out and returned to the recorder's office as what they call undeliverable by the post office, the US post office. So what has happened is that those people that have been waiting for their ballot because they were mailed out on June 24th, and today is now July 16th, they have not received their ballot and they're still sitting there waiting for their ballot to come and mail. I'm telling you right now, your ballot's never coming to you. You have to vote in person. So just so you know, our party has uh has been reaching out um and calling people that did not receive their ballot. Um, as long as we have a good phone number and letting them know they need to vote and giving them the information to get in touch with the county so that they know exactly where to vote. And this I'll just be honest with you, this has been just a disaster because just for instance, in the general election in 2024, we only had two hundred and eighteen ballots returned from the post office. And right now, as of the um 10th, we for just our party we had almost seven hundred. So big big issue we don't I'll be honest with you, the county recorder um talking with uh Mr. Marshall, he's trying to figure out what's going on, but don't if your ballot's not coming. And the other thing I want to say, do not, do not be calling the um postmaster. They did not receive your ballot. And I have given them um my direction, Darren Solo, to give out the recorder's number so that you can call the recorder's office because they haven't received the ballots. And um it it it's a sad, sad affair because this is such an important election for our state and our county.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Another problem. I th I'm gonna just say it, another problem with mail and ballots. There we go. I I just think you know you need to show up. It's July 21st, everybody, and there are there is some early voting. Today, Holbrook is closed because they got flooded out, right? Correct. Oh my gosh. So they're closed today. But um tomorrow's the last day, Friday, for early voting at the County Recorder's office, right? Correct.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Uh those hours are from um eight to five.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Eight to five tomorrow in Holebrook. Then you need to find out where you need to be, okay, on July 21st. And there's been a couple of changes I wanted to tell people about two that we were talking about. On July 21st, which is Tuesday, primary election, um Snowflake and Taylor, their voting locations changed. It's now Snowflake School District Office at 682 School Bus Lane, and then in Taylor, Taylor Elementary Gym, 29 South 300 East. So please share that with your family and friends.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Absolutely agree. The thing is that there's been so many um uh issues with ballots during this election that you you if even if you received a mail-on ballot and you decide you don't want to vote by mail and you still want to go in and vote in person, you can do that. They will cancel, they'll go in, they will put give you a ballot, they will cancel that ballot that you received, and you can vote in person. So if you decide you just you can everybody can vote in person. If if they have their ballot in their hand, just leave it at home, go in, vote in person. That is the best way to do it because if their signature is verified, those ballots go directly and they're easy to get counted, as opposed to dropping them off without having your driver's license, having them look at your driver's license. Those ballots have to go through a curing process, review the signature, make sure it's you, and it takes a few days for that to happen. So please, please, please vote in person on July 21st between 6 and 7 at a voting center. Bring your driver's license. If you don't, if for some reason your driver's license does not match your current residence, bring in two um identifications like a water bill, electric bill, um a mortgage statement, or uh whatever you have, your bank account that shows the correct addresses, they will let you vote as long as they you have a picture ID. So those are options. So please, please, please come prepared because we need everybody out there to vote. We need to make a change. We need to make a change. Please, please, please, yes.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

So um give us one more time the phone number to call, uh, two times, just in case people need a call to find out where to vote to.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Okay. Um cell phone number is 928-524-4192. Again, 928 524-4192.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Okay, great. And then you can also go to the Navajo County uh website too. Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Navajo Countyaz.gov. Click on the um county recorders. Again, that's Navajo CountyAz.gov.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Okay, and go to the county recorders. Okay, Liz, thank you so much. Anything else you want to pitch for voting day on Tuesday before we go.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Get out and vote. You know, it helpful it you know, rain or shine, because we need the rain, but we also need everybody to go in and vote.

unknown 12:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

You know, if you need to get a party together in a van or something to all go down and vote, do it. Whatever it takes, we need you to vote. This is such an important election. Please, please, please get out and vote.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Alrighty, Liz, thank you so much. We so appreciate you. Alrighty, everybody, keep it right here. You're listening to IK Talk, 1067 FM, the voice of the mouth.