Arizonans’ political involvement in this year’s presidential election continues to reach landmarks never seen before.

A first for the state in this year’s election was the Military and Overseas Voting system, offered by the secretary of state’s office, which allowed military and overseas citizens to vote online through a Web-based system, submitting their early ballots electronically using a document scanner, said State Election Director Joe Kanefield.

The system uses encryption technology to ensure security, privacy and the overall integrity of the voted ballot. It is the same type of security used for online banking and credit card transactions.

Military and overseas voters from Arizona requested 1,129 early ballots through the secretary of state Web site. Of those, 223 military and overseas voters used the new system since its implementation in late September, Kanefield said.

“For the first time ever, military and overseas voters were able to upload their ballots through a secured system developed by the office as a result of new legislation to streamline the voting process for these citizens,” Kanefield said. “We consider the new voting procedure for military and overseas citizens a great success. It will certainly be used for future elections.”

This year also saw the most registered voters and most ballots cast in Arizona’s history, Kanefield said.

Secretary of State Jan Brewer released the official canvass of this year’s general election Monday.

A total of 2,987,451 voters were registered in this general election.

Nearly 78 percent of the registered voters participated, second only to the 80 percent turnout in 1980 when Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter, he said.

“More impressively, the 2,320,851 votes cast represent the most ballots ever cast in our state’s history, eclipsing the number of ballots cast in 2004 by 300,000,” Kanefield said.

This year continued an upward movement in voter turnout in presidential elections since 1996 when Bill Clinton was elected to a second term. The voter turnout was about 64 percent that year, and it has gradually increased in presidential elections, according to the secretary of state’s Web site.

The high voter turnout this year was reflected in the rural and urban divide with the most populated counties having the highest turnout, said Kelly McDonald, assistant professor of communication in the School of Letters and Sciences. President-elect Barack Obama won Pima County by 24,000 votes but lost Maricopa County by 150,000 votes. He said this accounted for McCain's statewide victory.

“The disparity in voter turnout and what those who turned out to vote for is interesting,” McDonald said.

Despite Arizona’s high turnout for the presidential election, many people failed to vote for state offices, said David Berman, policy analyst with the Morrison Institute for Public Policy and professor emeritus of political science.

In part, he said, this might have been because the only statewide contests were for seats on the corporation commission, a relatively obscure body.

“One thing to consider when discussing voting turnout is the fall-off down the ballot,” Berman said. “The vote was strikingly low for municipal elections.”

Reach the reporter at philip.haldiman@asu.edu.