Arizona’s primary was an utter disaster. But was it just a big mistake, or something more nefarious?
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Source: Washington Post
If the botched election happened in a vacuum, perhaps the long lines might not have become such an explosive political issue. But voting rights activists who were on the ground that day say there are too many parallels to past fudged elections in Arizona not to wonder whether there's something more sinister going on.
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Voting rights advocates say Latino voters didn't want to mail in their ballot because many recalled the bottleneck during 2012's heated election when controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio was on the ballot. People in minority communities waited in long lines, and eventually many had to cast provisional ballots that weren't counted until almost a month later. That same year, the county sent out a Spanish-language announcement that had the wrong voting day on it.
Going back to March 22's election, voting rights activists say they have evidence the poll closures were heaviest in the most disadvantaged areas of the county, like West Phoenix, which has a big minority population. They add they did not find nearly the volume of independent voters officials said there were.
They also argue that Arizona's voting laws don't suggest an openness to minority voters. Arizona's governor signed a bill making it a felony for third-party groups, like nonprofits, to collect and submit early ballots on behalf of voters. It's a move advocates say further discourages minority voters from participating. And Arizona is one of two states that required voters to prove their citizenship when applying to vote (though the courts recently said the states can't require a proof-of-citizenship document for voters registering via a federal form).
Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/arizona%e2%80%99s-primary-was-an-utter-disaster-but-was-it-just-a-big-mistake-or-something-more-nefarious/ar-BBrb3H0?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp
Nice bit of investigative reporting that puts the Arizona election disaster into context. Of course, remember that Arizona's former Governor, Jan Brewer, endorsed Trump.
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in the frontierland era so mistakes will be made as they iron out the kinks.
we here at DU and other DEMOCRATIC states have our act together, we do not diss voters..............................we are DEMOCRATIC and beleive that people should be able to vote...............
Honk-------------------for a political revolution Bernie 2016
It would be incredible if in the United States we would all take voting as seriously as they do in countries where a purple thumb or finger is a badge of honor.
The term first appeared shortly after the January 2005 election in various weblogs and editorials of individuals supportive of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The term received its widest usage during a visit by U.S. President George W. Bush on February 24, 2005 to Bratislava, Slovak Republic for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bush stated: "In recent times, we have witnessed landmark events in the history of liberty: A Rose Revolution in Georgia, an Orange Revolution in Ukraine, and now, a Purple Revolution in Iraq."
As I recall - the Repugs and conservative radio was abuzz with this 'purple finger' vote. They said that it was because of BushCo that the Iraqi's had this great opportunity to vote because Bush took out Saddam Hussein's government.
Fast forward to today - the Repugs do every thing in their power to deny American's the right to vote.
What happened in Arizona illustrates this perfectly. If something isn't done about this before the November General Election - we might very well looking at a Repug president to replace President Obama.
