Maricopa elections officials recommend 178 voting-precinct adjustments ahead of 2026 elections

Maricopa County Elections Director Scott Jarrett and assistant county manager Zach Shura presented the Board of Supervisors with a targeted plan to adjust voting precinct lines in limited areas following the statewide redistricting and recent justice-court precinct proposals.

Jarrett and Shura said the county currently has 935 voting precincts, and their recommendation would leave 739 precincts unchanged while changing 178 precincts, removing 18 (17 of them no-voter precinct slivers), and adding 39 new precincts. The changes, the presenters said, target four narrow categories: reduce precincts with more than roughly 5,000 registered voters, align precincts with justice court precincts that are bound by statute, move precinct limits to freeway medians where requested by law enforcement to reduce miscoding of traffic citations, and remove precinct splits that cut across city wards or other local districts.

Jarrett told the board that precinct boundaries are the building blocks for ballot styles and election canvasses, and that the county aims to limit precinct size to reduce the number of ballot styles and to improve in-person operations. He said the county will notify party leaders and precinct committeemen and that the practical impact on currently elected precinct committeemen is minimal: they retain their positions through their terms and, if their precinct changes, will collect signatures or seek election in their revised precinct for future terms.

The presenters said they conducted public outreach, including recorded virtual meetings, press releases and targeted notices to city and town clerks, legislative district chairs and county and state party chairs. They reported roughly 40 attendees across two public meetings and said public feedback was largely positive; one request to redraw a Rio Verde precinct by ZIP code was declined because ZIP-code-based precincts would have split communities.

Jarrett and Shura explained legal and operational timelines: state statute requires the Board to approve precinct changes by Oct. 1 for election-administration purposes, and, if approved, the changes would take effect Jan. 2 for future elections. County staff said detailed maps and an Excel list of all recommended changes are posted at maricopa.vote and repr ecincting.maricopa.vote (reprecincting.maricopa.vote) and that they will notify party leaders again after the board vote and discuss the changes at the county chairs’ pre-election meeting.

Ending: Elections staff asked the board to approve the targeted precinct changes to improve election logistics and reduce oversized precincts. Staff said they will continue outreach to parties and municipal clerks and will provide the final maps and implementation steps following any board approval.