Clinton Claims Victory but Arizona's Voting Fiasco Dubbed "National Disgrace" [View all]

[Ferd Berfel]

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/03/23/clinton-claims-victory-arizonas-voting-fiasco-dubbed-national-disgrace


Shuttered polling places, endless lines, and widespread disenfranchisement—particularly 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 didn’t look at it as legislative districts. We looked at the overall picture of our voters."

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