this voting fiasco is just part of the long historical trend of
disenfranchisement of minorities in Arizona. Remember back in the eighties
Arizona was the state that failed to recognize Martin Luther King's birthday
as a holiday after it was widely recognized as a Federal holiday and by the
rest of the states. Unfortunately this trend of reducing the number of
polling places is going to continue throughout the country. There is talk in
California of reducing neighborhood polling places and setting up large
early voting centers. There have been concerns about this raised by the
disability community in California as well as by other groups.
Chuck
-----Original Message-----
From: Miriam Vieni
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2016 3:19 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Clinton Claims Victory but Arizona's Voting
Fiasco Dubbed "National Disgrace"
Clinton Claims Victory but Arizona's Voting Fiasco Dubbed "National
Disgrace"
Published on
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Clinton Claims Victory but Arizona's Voting Fiasco Dubbed "National
Disgrace"
Shuttered polling places, endless lines, and widespread
disenfranchisement-particularly for minority communities
by
Lauren McCauley, staff writer
Voters wait in line to cast their ballots at Pilgrim Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Mesa, Arizona. Lines in the evening were around three hours.
(Photo: Michael Chow/The Republic)
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."
In response, Arizona Central columnist Elvia Diaz wrote, "So, it is no
coincidence many poor and predominantly Latino areas didn't get a polling
place. Purcell and her staff figured few of them vote anyway. She just
decided to discount them. Really."
And despite the sizable turnout, major news networks, including CNN, called
the race just minutes after polls closed while many voters would still wait
hours before even casting a ballot.
Bernie Sanders' campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, expressed frustration over
the early call. "I'm not predicting victory, but I'm not predicting defeat,
either," he told CNN. "I mean, we have to wait and see 'til the votes are
counted."
The Arizona Democratic Party is also investigating reports that numerous
Democratic voters were mistakenly identified as "independent" in the voter
database, which would exclude them from the closed primary. Many of the
misidentified voters were given provisional ballots, which may not have even
been counted.
As the Phoenix New Times reports, "the day was so hectic, that as it became
clear Clinton won, Sanders supporter Sheila Ryan said she just couldn't
believe it: 'What about all the provisional ballots? What about all the
ballots from [people still in line]? Are those getting counted?'"
What's more, just days before the vote, the state's Republican Governor Doug
Ducey signed a law making "felony for anyone but a family member, roommate,
caregiver, postal worker or elections official to collect early ballots,"
the Associated Press reported. The new law made it "nearly impossible for
voter-outreach groups to collect and drop off early ballots."
As University of Florida professor Michael McDonald pointed out, Arizona is
one of the states that would have required federal approval to alter its
voting laws until the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013.
As Sanders supporter Patti Serrano told the Phoenix New Times, "I think
there's voter suppression going on, and it is obviously targeting particular
Democrats. Many working -class people don't have the privilege to be able to
stand in line for three hours."
There were other issues too. A number of polling places reportedly ran out
of ballots while four locations in Tucson received bomb threats forcing at
least one to evacuate.
The disenfranchisement did not escape the attention of others, either,
including Sanders himself.
Ultimately, Clinton was credited with winning 57.8 percent of the vote to
Sanders' 39.8 percent. But more than have 36,000 people signed a White House
petition calling on the Obama administration to investigate the voter fraud
and suppression in Arizona.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
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Clinton Claims Victory but Arizona's Voting Fiasco Dubbed "National
Disgrace"
Published on
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Clinton Claims Victory but Arizona's Voting Fiasco Dubbed "National
Disgrace"
Shuttered polling places, endless lines, and widespread
disenfranchisement-particularly for minority communities
by
Lauren McCauley, staff writer
. 88 Comments
.
. Voters wait in line to cast their ballots at Pilgrim Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Mesa, Arizona. Lines in the evening were around three
hours. (Photo: Michael Chow/The Republic)
. 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."
. In response, Arizona Central columnist Elvia Diaz wrote, "So, it is
no coincidence many poor and predominantly Latino areas didn't get a polling
place. Purcell and her staff figured few of them vote anyway. She just
decided to discount them. Really."
And despite the sizable turnout, major news networks, including CNN, called
the race just minutes after polls closed while many voters would still wait
hours before even casting a ballot.
Bernie Sanders' campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, expressed frustration over
the early call. "I'm not predicting victory, but I'm not predicting defeat,
either," he told CNN. "I mean, we have to wait and see 'til the votes are
counted."
The Arizona Democratic Party is also investigating reports that numerous
Democratic voters were mistakenly identified as "independent" in the voter
database, which would exclude them from the closed primary. Many of the
misidentified voters were given provisional ballots, which may not have even
been counted.
As the Phoenix New Times reports, "the day was so hectic, that as it became
clear Clinton won, Sanders supporter Sheila Ryan said she just couldn't
believe it: 'What about all the provisional ballots? What about all the
ballots from [people still in line]? Are those getting counted?'"
What's more, just days before the vote, the state's Republican Governor Doug
Ducey signed a law making "felony for anyone but a family member, roommate,
caregiver, postal worker or elections official to collect early ballots,"
the Associated Press reported. The new law made it "nearly impossible for
voter-outreach groups to collect and drop off early ballots."
As University of Florida professor Michael McDonald pointed out, Arizona is
one of the states that would have required federal approval to alter its
voting laws until the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013.
As Sanders supporter Patti Serrano told the Phoenix New Times, "I think
there's voter suppression going on, and it is obviously targeting particular
Democrats. Many working -class people don't have the privilege to be able to
stand in line for three hours."
There were other issues too. A number of polling places reportedly ran out
of ballots while four locations in Tucson received bomb threats forcing at
least one to evacuate.
The disenfranchisement did not escape the attention of others, either,
including Sanders himself.
Ultimately, Clinton was credited with winning 57.8 percent of the vote to
Sanders' 39.8 percent. But more than have 36,000 people signed a White House
petition calling on the Obama administration to investigate the voter fraud
and suppression in Arizona.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
