How do they know Republicans requested the absentee ballots?
Do you register by party in Az?
There should be no absentee ballots at the precinct level period. They all go to county boards. Why would any polling place accept absentee ballots without postmarks? There’s nothing to verify a signature and a date signed without the postmark.
“How do they know Republicans requested the absentee ballots? Do you register by party in Az?”
Probably voters have the option to declare a party when they register; most states do. (Or you can specifically declare “no party”.) Easy enough to match the name on the roll to the name on the ballot. And voter rolls are public information in some states — maybe all states.
That’s why I never vote Absentee. Those ballots pass by too many hands and eyes — and wastebaskets.
Where I ran elections (30 years ago), the Absentee Ballot itself wasn’t counted in the machine, or by hand. We had a Facsimile Board consisting of pairs of workers. They took the info from the ballot, and punched a corresponding ballot (IBM card) to be run through, and read by, the computer. That was about three days after Election Day, and before certification.
With Absentee Ballots there are too many steps along the way for funny business to happen.
For once and for all, these are NOT ABSENTEE BALLOTS. They are early voting ballots that you have to register for to receive in the mail before election day. You also get them for the primaries. There is no primary ballot with all the choices regardless of party - so it's kind of a semi-open primary in that independents can vote but must select either a D or R ballot. Most likely explains why we don't always get the most conservative R's on the general ballot.
I'm guessing the assumption on the whole is that if you are requesting a Republican ballot for the primary you are a registered Republican.