Puerto Rico Dems "appalled" by accusations from Sanders camp

[askeptic]

28. This is a diversion - real story: Puerto Rico Slashes Polling Places For The Democratic Primary

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/06/03/3783185/puerto-rico-polls-closed/

In early May, Puerto Rico’s Democratic Party announced that more than 1,500 polling places would be available for the island’s June 5 Democratic primary. A few weeks later, they slashed that number to just over 430 — a reduction of more than two thirds.
In 2008, the island’s last competitive Democratic primary, there were more than 2,300 polling places.

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Worse, many voters will have to visit two separate locations to cast ballots in the presidential primary and the local primaries held the same day. Voter turnout and engagement has for years been much higher on the island than in the 50 U.S. states, but these changes may present too heavy a burden for low-income residents who lack transportation options or who need to work.
Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) are up in arms about the polling place reductions, calling it a “fix” and drawing parallels to Arizona’s disastrous primary. Arizona’s most populous county closed two-thirds of its polling locations ahead of its April primary, forcing some voters to wait in line more than six hours to cast a ballot.

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Yet the Democratic Party did not cite any of these reasons when it announced the poll closures. Rather, the head of the island's Democratic Party, Clinton supporter Roberto Prats, defended the move by arguing there would still be four times as many polling places than were open during the Republican primary back in March. But the island's population leans sharply Democratic, so far more people will be voting Sunday than in March's Republican contest.