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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsArizona Voters Are Furious About Their Election Mess
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/03/arizona-voters-hearing-bungled-electionMaricopa County, Arizona, elections officials came under heavy pressure by state legislators on Monday to explain why thousands of voters waited for hours to cast ballots in the state's most populous county during last week's statewide Republican and Democratic presidential nominating contests. The special hearing to address the issue turned contentious as state representatives and angry voters lobbed accusations of voter suppression and discrimination by local elections officials.
"We are holding this hearing today to get information and to hear from our elected officials responsible in the preparation and execution of last Tuesday's election debacle," said state Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-Scottsdale), as she opened the hearing of the House Elections Committee a week after the election. "But we're here to understand why it happened."
Ugenti-Rita turned things over to Helen Purcell, the election official responsible for Maricopa County who had decided to reduce the number of voting locations from 200 to 60. When the extent of the problem became apparent, Purcell further angered residents by saying that voters were partly to blame for the long waits because they opted to go to the polls instead of voting by mail.
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The audacity, going to the polls instead of voting by mail. They should vote by mail so we can throw them in the trash. /sarcasm off. This has been done since Snotty Walker in Wisconsin, another state that will be known for election fraud. Now done in every red Amerikan state. Closing voting locations was Snotty Walker's MOP. Commenters after this story nail it. Good videos at the link.
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)Electoral College! Sure, because US-citizens are peasants and telephone and E-Mail don't exist!
"Winner takes all" for states! Because those other 49% of the popular vote don't count!
- Make a law that there need to be at least X distinct polling-stations per 1000 citizens in a given area.
- A federally issued national ID that is summarily valid for all elections, whether state-election-laws or local laws allow it or not.
- Pen&paper and vote-count by hand. Because voting-machines and vote-count-machines have a life-time of about 5-10 years.
LittleGirl
(8,287 posts)"Because voting-machines and vote-count-machines have a life-time of about 5-10 years."
These machines are the easiest to hack or reprogram before transmission to ground-zero-state-voting systems. That's a fact. (See the Brad Blog).
Pen and paper and hand counting is the safest and easiest to verify. It just requires man-power to do it and if you get the people involved, it works everywhere, world-wide.
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)As a rule of thumb, semiconductor-electronics (-> everything that relies on microchips) have a workplace-lifetime of about 10 years. Older than that and it's almost guaranteed that you will get errors and glitches, simply because the hardware ages and deteriorates over time.
10 years.
The county has to spend a few million dollars on new electronics every 10 years. If they want to be on the safe side, every 5 years.
but hand counting is more reliable and verifiable. Agree on the hardware life.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)but they probably won't.
Response to deminks (Original post)
Post removed
roody
(10,849 posts)Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)Its not who votes but who counts the votes!
Locrian
(4,522 posts)And finding the rigged systems is in NOBODY interest except the powers that be.
"It was everybody," Stacey Champion, a community activist in Phoenix who attended the hearing, told Mother Jones. "There were Republicans, there were Democrats. It was young people, it was old people. It was everyone. People are pissed, and rightfully so."
There's a lot to be pissed off aBOUT LATELY.
rladdi
(581 posts)line for hours. They are really angry over this. Otherwise it would NOT be an issue.
kadaholo
(304 posts)This is UNBELIEVABLE! After reading an article at Anonymous on the antics in Arizona, I noticed a comment attached to the article that stated there are widespread reports of voter registration manipulation in PA and NY.
See article: Anonymous Investigate Arizona Election Fraud, Sanders Was Hacked
Link: http://www.anonews.co/anonymous-sanders-hack/
Since I live in PA and am a Bernie supporter, I decided to confirm my registration immediately.
I checked the VotesPA website and, sure enough, voter registration information on both my husband and me is not available!!! We have been registered Democrats and voting at this location since 1987 and 1994 respectively.
This is the message that came up for both of us: "No Voter Registration information could be found for the data provided. Either search again using different data or contact your County Voter Registration Office."
Calling tomorrow and surprise (not), we are Bernie supporters!!! INCREDIBLE!!! Just coincidence in state after state???? I think not!!!
Seems like those two lapses in the firewall (both reported by the Sanders Campaign) are benefitting only one of our two Democratic candidates...
HIGHEST PRIORITY!!! PLEASE TELL EVERYONE WHO IS STILL WAITING TO VOTE IN PRIMARIES TO CHECK THEIR REGISTRATION...ESPECIALLY FRIENDS IN NY AND PA!!!
AllyCat
(16,192 posts)Can you repost? GD Primaries. Or do you not have enough posts yet?
Stuart G
(38,436 posts)oldandhappy
(6,719 posts)Your voters are not at fault. What a gross suggestion. The state is responsible for providing opportunity to vote. Scrunching 200 voting places down to 60 places is not the fault of the voters. That is a greedy state trying to save money -- and ending up spending bocuuuu bucks on retroactive public relations...and losing the p.r. wars! Be proud AZ.