2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumClinton Claims Victory but Arizona's Voting Fiasco Dubbed "National Disgrace"
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/03/23/clinton-claims-victory-arizonas-voting-fiasco-dubbed-national-disgraceShuttered polling places, endless lines, and widespread disenfranchisementparticularly for minority communities
Something was amiss in Arizona on Tuesday. As Hillary Clinton claimed victory in the state's Democratic primary, thousands of voters were left out to dry, with shuttered polling places, endless lines, and widespread reports of disenfranchisement.
In Maricopa County, which includes the capital Phoenix, voters waited up to five hours to cast a ballot after the County Elections Office slashed the number of polling sites from 200 in 2012 to just 60 this year. As the state's most populous county, this amounted to more than 20,000 voters for every available polling location.
Notably, many Latino areas were left with either just one or no polling places. Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell defended that decision, saying, "we looked at an area, and factored into that how many early ballots we usually get in that area and how many people normally vote at the polls. We didnt look at it as legislative districts. We looked at the overall picture of our voters."
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Cleita
(75,480 posts)FarPoint
(12,350 posts)Leave Hillary out of and Bernie because they are just the Candidates.
yourpaljoey
(2,166 posts)FarPoint
(12,350 posts)I would not want to play their scheming ways. No evidence, thus a falsehood.
Ferd Berfel
(3,687 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)Republicans got screwed, too.
It is an example of epic incompetence by the AZ Sec of State, Michele Reagan.
It was a damn disaster from start to finish for everybody.
Viva_La_Revolution
(28,791 posts)FarPoint
(12,350 posts)Board of Elections are responsible.
Viva_La_Revolution
(28,791 posts)The establishment
FarPoint
(12,350 posts)The source of the disenfranchisement.
ViseGrip
(3,133 posts)yourpaljoey
(2,166 posts)dr60omg
(283 posts)And sorry but people waited to vote sometimes for the first time and they registered as Democrats to vote for Sanders you are not going to see them vote again ... thanks for helping demoralize voters and make them realize their votes are not wanted
Uncle Joe
(58,354 posts)Thanks for the thread, Ferd Berfel.
Ferd Berfel
(3,687 posts)marions ghost
(19,841 posts)absolutely.
What were people talking about in those lines for hours...
How much this all sucks I'm sure.
Waiting For Everyman
(9,385 posts)And undemocratic. This is cheating, and it's abusive.
That is not a win, it's a theft.
bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)pat_k
(9,313 posts)The right thing to do would be to call for the AZ SOS to enable "late voting." Nothing can "fix" what happened, but it's a reasonable "after the fact" remedy.
I''m also surprised at the number of people rationalizing the blatant suppression -- suppression that obviously disproportionately affected under 30's, and others, who tend to vote on election day in larger numbers. Anyone in the "election business" knew what the disproportionate consequences of making it so difficult to vote on election day would be. They can claim ignorance, but given what their jobs are, that would be absurd.
ibegurpard
(16,685 posts)That's our Hillary!
FlatBaroque
(3,160 posts)This is The Establishment at work, showing its very best efforts to continue the destruction of our democracy.
MerryBlooms
(11,767 posts)It's only getting worse.