Arizona is in the national spotlight again because Election Day turned into a total shitshow, particularly in Maricopa County.
Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell has taken the blame and apologized for shutting down so many polling locations that people ended up waiting in line for hours. You can read about in the Arizona Republic, but here’s tl;dr version: Purcell thought that most people in Maricopa County would vote by mail so she thought she’d save some money and reduce the number of polling place. A huge mistake, to be sure, but likely more one of incompetence than malice. You’re free to believe there was a plot to disenfranchise voters, but you’ll have to explain to me who benefited from any of it.
Other factors at play:
• Unlike most primary elections in Arizona, independents couldn’t vote; you had to be registered as a Democrat or a Republican to cast a ballot. Some of those people waiting in line were independents and once they got into the polling place, it took extra time to explain to them why they couldn’t cast a ballot or, in some case, give them a provisional ballot to cast that likely won’t be counted.
• It was a bit of a sleeper election. Sure, lots of folks returned their early ballots because they were paying attention (and some of them asked for their ballots back when Marco Rubio dropped out because they wanted a do-over). But other folks didn’t even realize the election was coming up until the candidates started arriving in Arizona last week. Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez told me today that their office got a bunch of phone calls in recent days from people who had only just realized it was time to vote. Some of them wanted to know if it was too late to register and others had different concerns.
• Here in Pima County, I’ve heard scattered reports about people who believed they were registered as a Democrat or Republican but discovered they were actually PND, or Party Not Determined. Some of that, from what I can tell, comes from people who changed their voter registration online via the Motor Vehicle Department because they had moved or wanted to sign up for an early ballot or had some other business to attend to. Evidently, they were asked what party they wanted to belong to and, if they didn’t answer that question (perhaps because they assumed they’d remain affiliated with whatever party they already belonged to), they were automatically assigned PND.
Rodriguez said she’d look into problems with individual voters if they were not allowed to vote yesterday, so if you had some trouble, email me at jnintzel@tucsonweekly.com and I’ll see what I can find out.
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2016.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/investigate-voter-fraud-and-voter-suppression-arizona-3222016-democratic-party
I just love it when you blame the incompetence on the elections people reading the tea leaves of mail in ballots requested and not hold the lazy stupid voters responsible. It’s a lot like keeping the Post Office open until midnight on April 14. It just encourages more stupid people to do stupid things.
I come from a state that allows Independents to vote in a Primary election. I am an Independent and have been for long time , It is my right to vote and nobody should stop me from voting. It is unconstitutional. What kind of state is this that discriminates Independents from voting, again it is Unconstitutional. I am a citizen and it is my right no matter what. Don’t tell me that this wasn’t done on purpose. Who ever heard of not having enough polling places to service all voters.
no it isn’t unconstitutional for parties to have closed primaries….a pita but not a constitutional issue….
Interestingly, for the first time ever my precinct didn’t have a scanner on hand…the ballots just went into a metal box with a wire seal a 4th grader could forge/fake/tamper with…..I found that very odd and unsettling…..
If you don’t like the results of an election, don’t blame the process!!!!
Nothing new this time only a few people did not pay attention to the rules and are now crying foul.
To be sure, the premature closing of polling places with people in line is worrisome.
Nonetheless, this American of Mexican ancestry had no problems; voted for Trump and hope he has the chance to vote for Donald again in November.
My precinct (In Tucson) didn’t even have a polling place this election. Just a notice in the mail saying we were a mail-only precinct. Is this even legal? Being someone who always reads the directions, I caught the rather inconspicuous notice that came with my mail-in ballot, and voted by mail. My roommate didn’t and had to ride around looking for a polling place. I’m betting a lot of my neighbors didn’t either, and wonder how many of them missed their chance to vote. How many of them just tossed the early ballot, thinking I always go to the polls, and missed the notice altogether. My precinct is largely poor and Latino, and this does make me wonder about voter suppression.
Years of working at the polls led me to wonder about several items Tuesday. For one, though all voters – no matter the party – pay taxes that include the costs of elections, a full one-third do not get the benefit of their tax dollars – “Taxation without representation is tyranny.” Also, Republicans who filled out their ballots early and had candidates who dropped out came to the polls and said they “lost” their ballots and had an opportunity to select a candidate who remained in the race. There are issues we need to resolve with mail-in ballots. If you requested one and received it (perhaps people must sign that they received it), but get a second chance at the polling place, is that fair?
Terry Shay, you need to back that claim up with some proof. I have not heard or read anything like that from anyone else.
And once again Jim Nintzel completely ignores the presence of the Green Party. We had 2 doctors on the Green Party presidential preference ballot. Smart, healthy, responsible, and nice individuals who do not tear each other apart. And Green candidates do not accept any corporate campaign contributions. Check out the New Green Deal – cut military spending by half and divert those funds into building up our crumbling infrastructure and developing more green energy options to wean us from fossil fuels. Got burned with Bernie? Come chill with Jill!
I have no sympathy for Purcell, she should step down immediately. Why are these idiot politicians trying to save money on elections? We’re a democracy. Elections aren’t a good place to cut back. If you want to vote, it should be relatively easy to do so. Anything else is voter suppression. It’s bad enough we put the election on a day when many aren’t able to get off work.
Since the mail in ballots are sent and returned in advance, the bureaucrats should have had a pretty good idea of the ratio of mail/in person ballots. I assume the ” miss” was due to people who are from other states and thought those rules applied here. In other states the “sudden Republicans ” have been Dems and Independents who want to vote for Trump. And in states with relatively large white college student populations, the “sudden Democrats” have been Sanders voters. Looks like the Trump voters figured out how to vote, Sanders partisans not so much.
Voting my mail is the convenient and easy for voters. No running to a polling place or standing in line. Or even being challenged. Voting by mail is the best and everyone registered can vote if they want too.
For those wanting to stand in line, maybe just one polling place should be open in each county and let them stand in line. But Arizona does have a history of suppressing voters, until the US Supreme Court thought they knew better.
Curious about that man from Bisbee who trumpeted his voting for Trump. He alleges he’s of Latino heritage. Well. I do hope he’s not one of Trump’s rapists, drug runners, or killers!
Arturo,
The maternal part of my family came to the US from Chihuahua most of a century ago, during the protracted revolution. They became American citizens. The paternal side came from Arizpe, Sonora some years before to work in the mines. They too became citizens simply through their physical presence, something common for all immigrants before 1900.
I don’t qualify for the group you have listed, as I am a conservative. Perhaps you are thinking of Grijalva’s supporters.
You forgot the bomb threats from Anti-Trump people that slowed the communications between the polling places and the elections.
For those complaining about voters’ ignorance: I received info about the date of the presidential preference election and the need to register with one of the parties in order to be able to vote in it from a candidate house party and from my involvement with three organizations that are active in spreading information about voting. I wondered: if I had just moved here from one of the states that allows independents to vote in primaries how would I have known what the process would be? Seems like the county recorder should proactively mail notification to all independents that they will have no way of voting in the presidential preference election if they don’t register with a party by a particular date.
As for Nintzel’s remark, “You’re free to believe there was a plot to disenfranchise voters, but you’ll have to explain to me who benefited from any of it.” It would seem like many of the voters who registered recently as Democrats would have done so to vote for Sanders — there was certainly an active effort by the Sanders campaign to notify voters who were likely candidates (e.g. independents living in the same household with registered Democrats) of the need to change registration in order to vote in the preference election. It’s not a big leap to suspect that a failure to register change of affiliation requests may have benefited Clinton; it will be interesting to see if any credible reports are forthcoming on what specific constituencies were most affected.
Interesting fact that my registered party affiliation suddenly was changed to “Independent”. When I protested and showed my voter ID Card and demanded to know who and when my affiliation was changed the moron stated that I changed my affiliation three years ago. I have not changed my party affiliation since I retired from the Army and registered to vote in my home state, and others also stated their affiliation had mysteriously changed.. Something stinks with this election process, as one’s party affiliation simply does not switch to independent all by itself, nor are there any answers forthcoming from the County recorders office, and the main question is WHO has access to change the voters party affiliation.
Markus, why is that person a moron? They may have only been telling you the information that was available to them. Too many people here have jumped too far too fast in making assumptions of some sort of conspiracy. I personally think it is a microcosm of the ineptness of government services. They simply have no competition so what would be the motivation to excel? You can’t go somewhere else.
Stop expecting the government to get it right. They won’t. I just wish that half of you were as outraged at how our veterans were being cared for. That is a real crime.
But hey, let’s vote for Bernie or Hillary and wait for the government to bring us our food. This mindset is the new definition of insanity.
markus_jim, I went to Pima County Recorder’s office on Wed. and inquired about such a situation. The best thing to do is go downtown (240 N. Stone Avenue), turn right at the door to enter the Recorders office, and talk to any one of those Voter Registration Clerks there. Ask them to see the Images from all of your past Voter Registration cards. I did the same; saw Voter Registration history going back several years, every time I changed addresses. My guess is that there is a software bug or bad design in the MVD servicearizona.com website, and based on my conversations with the Pima County Recorder, they blindly accept whatever data comes from the MVD website without a verification process.