A major mishap took place in the Arizona primaries last Tuesday. Examples include polling places being cut from two-hundred to only sixty in Maricopa County, voter’s parties being changed without their knowledge or consent, having to stand in line to get a chance to vote for five or more hours in the blazing desert sun, and Hillary/Trump being declared the winners with only one percent of the votes counted. The question is why did this happen? Was it simply an unorganized affair or was there foul play involved?
Foul play is suspected and the incident is currently under investigation.
People were denied their legal right to vote as they approached their precinct because their parties were unknowingly changed. Arizona has a closed primary system in which any voter that is not a registered Democrat or Republican cannot vote in the primaries unless they switch it within twenty-nine days of the poll. But, a majority of Arizonian voters were turned away or told to fill out a provisional ballot upon finding out the software had changed their parties without their consent. Provisional ballots are used to determine whether or not a voter is eligible in a poll. In this particular primary election, more of the provisional ballots were considered invalid and didn’t count than those that were considered useable in the results. One voter even drove back to his house to get a voter identification card to show that he was, in fact, a registered democrat, but they still handed him a provisional ballot. That leaves many voters who were eligible wondering if their ballots were even counted in this primary. Their votes were silenced because of this mistake that nobody, not even those running the election, understands how or why it could have happened.
The lines to vote stretched for over half a mile long. People spent their whole day in line JUST to vote in the primary election. In Arizona, temperatures can reach hot and intense levels. For anyone who was not expecting to stand in line for longer than half an hour at the most, this was dangerous and unethical. It begs the question of just how many citizens of Maricopa county had to leave the line (the elderly, the disabled, families with small children) because of the heat without getting the chance to vote. This is partly due to the polling locations being cut in half. Helen Purcell (Maricopa County recorder) claims that they were cut in half because of voter turnout. Last election, only three hundred thousand voters turned out. Most opted for a mail-in ballot (understandable, considering the how uncomfortable the weather can get) or just simply didn’t vote. However, about eight hundred thousand voters turned out in Maricopa County to participate in this primary. Purcell failed to take into consideration the amount of millennial interest in this election, which is the highest it has ever been. Not only that, but she somehow conveniently forgot to include polling locations in predominantly Latinx neighborhoods. This definitely comes across as odd when it’s well known that the Latinx population in Maricopa county makes up almost half of the population overall. When under scrutiny for the long lines and apparent lack of planning, Helen Purcell actually blamed the voters. She claimed that it was their fault for getting into the line in the first place. Instead of looking into the problem and trying to come up with a solution, a legitimate state official blamed the voters for trying to fulfill their civic duties, despite the unnecessary challenges that came along with it.
The most frustrating out of all the odd happenings at the Arizona election was that Hillary and Trump were both declared the winners while people were still in line to vote. Apparently, only one percent of the votes had been counted when the announcement was made and the people in line were feeling discouraged. Some left the lines after the eight o’ clock announcement, either mistakenly thinking the polls were now closed (the polls were originally scheduled to close at seven pm) or because they were just plain tired. As a result, there were people encouraging those still in line to stay and wait it out despite the many obstacles. There were people willing to make food and water runs for those who had been stuck in line for most of the day. The last vote was made at two am. No one should have to wait in line for six hours without food or water just to vote. A premature winner should not have been announced when thousands of people were still waiting for their chance to cast their own vote. Serious voter rights were breached in Arizona on Tuesday.
Many agree that this should not have happened in Arizona or at all. So many agree that there is actually a petition in regards to the chaos that took place. It’s a petition to the White House and it reached its goal of signatures within two days, a record amount of time. Not only is this incident under investigation, Senator Bernie Sanders has sued the DNC and The White House is expected to respond to the petition soon.
You can view the petition here: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/investigate-voter-fraud-and-voter-suppression-arizona-3222016-democratic-party. Even though the goal for signatures has been achieved, you can still add your name if you feel what happened at the Arizona Primary was unjust.
No matter who you voted for or which candidate you want to see succeed, it is important to understand why this is a problem. Many voters, minorities especially, were silenced and unable to participate. This renders the election inaccurate and morally wrong. Whoever wins will win because of manipulated and skewed results and that is not what democracy is about. Everyone deserves to have their eligible vote counted, not changed or invalidated because of a mistake that really shouldn’t have been made in the first place. If you are able to vote, look out for signs of voter suppression and fight against it. This is our country as much as it is anyone else’s and we have every right to talk and not be talked over.
Resources Used:
http://usuncut.com/politics/5-examples-voter-suppression-arizona-primary/
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