Phoenix, AZ – Today, Governor Katie Hobbs signed bipartisan legislation passed by the Arizona Legislature, moving Arizona’s 2026 primary election to the second-to-last Tuesday in July, compressing the election calendar and increasing the responsibility on election officials to ensure critical election systems remain fully operational.
Unfortunately, the Arizona Republican Party has discovered that Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is once again disrupting the election process by failing to keep the E-Qual online candidate signature collection portal open and accessible to the public.
“Arizona elections must be administered with precision, professionalism, and accountability — not excuses. When critical election infrastructure is unavailable, it undermines public trust and raises serious questions that demand immediate scrutiny. Government failure should never be the reason voters have fewer choices, and Arizonans deserve transparency, accountability, and swift corrective action. Elections are the foundation of public trust, and there is simply too much at stake for preventable failures like this to occur. Arizonans expect elections to be administered with competence and seriousness, and when preventable failures occur, they demand accountability — not silence, not excuses, and not business as usual,” stated AZGOP Chairman Sergio Arellano.
“This situation must be rectified immediately and we deserve an explanation,” concluded Chairman Arellano.
Citizens must be registered to vote 29 days before the election to be eligible to cast a ballot in the Primary.
The 2026 Primary Election will take place on July 21, 2026. Previously, the primary would have been held on August 4, 2026.
Key Election Deadlines:
- Voter Registration Deadline: June 22, 2026
- Early Ballots Mailed / Early Voting Begins: June 24, 2026
- Primary Election Day: July 21, 2026
The primary date change also impacts filing deadlines for candidates running for office.
Filing Dates:
- Partisan Primary Candidate Filing: Feb. 21, 2026 – March 23, 2026
- Precinct Committeemen Write-In Deadline: April 6, 2026
- Write-In Candidate Filing Deadline: May 22, 2026