Pinal, AZ - 2004: 65K ballots, 2008: 106K ballots... why and how?

[Sorenroy]

So I was looking through county by county results and I noticed this crazy 41k ballot jump in only four years. I can't find any reason for it.

Turnout only increased by 1% (from 72% to 73%), so that's not the reason.

The county borders in New Mexico haven't changed since 1983 (source).

What happened? Does anyone know?

[LLR]

There is no Pinal County in New Mexico - there is one in Arizona, though

[JerryArkansas]

Population growth.  The county increased in population by 109.1% compared to 2000.

[Miles]

^ Yeah, it also had the largest increase in AZ from 2000 to 2004 as well: 

[Sorenroy]

Population growth.  The county increased in population by 109.1% compared to 2000.

Thanks. I was having a hard time figuring out where to find population statistics. Do you know why it jumped so much?

[LLR]

Population growth.  The county increased in population by 109.1% compared to 2000.

Thanks. I was having a hard time figuring out where to find population statistics. Do you know why it jumped so much?

The only race which significantly increased was African-Americans, from 2.7% to 4%...
Whites also increased 1%

Retirees?

[andrew_c]

Significant increase of Hispanic voter registration and turnout?

[Smash255]

Much of the northern portion of the county is a mix of Phoenix suburbs and exurbs.  The Phoenix metro saw an absolute population explosion during the 2000's (especially the middle portion of the decade leading into the collapse).  Growth while still solid has dropped considerably since the crash.

[Alcon]

Maricopa, Arizona went from a tiny town to a major suburb of over 40,000 in that decade alone.  Pinal's growth comes from commuter suburbs where you can buy an enormous 3,000sqft "starter" home for well under $250k (at least nowadays -- the market there is still weak) and then have a 30-40 minute commute each way (if there's no traffic) to a job in Maricopa County.  There is apparently a lot of demand for that.