More than twice as many Independent voters in Maricopa County have requested an early ballot for next month’s primary than voted in the 2012 primary.
Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell said Independents now have a better chance of knowing they can vote.
"I don’t think people talked about it before, except there are a lot of them out there," Purcell said. "Well, what can they do? So, I think now we’re saying, ‘This is what you can do. You can vote, and this is the way you can let us know how you want to vote.’"
There are more Arizona voters registered as “other,” than either Republicans or Democrats in Arizona and Independents are able to vote in primaries. But, by and large, they haven’t. Former State Senator Rich Crandall said voters become Independents for lots of reasons, so it can be tough for candidates to target them. He said those efforts also depend on the kind of race a candidate’s in.