Despite Democrats' warnings, problems for Arizona voters in primary

[suffragette]

http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/elviadiaz/2016/03/22/maricopa-county-election-officials-writing-off-voters-you-bet/82145554/

For weeks, some Democrats have been sounding the alarm about not enough polling places in Maricopa County for Tuesday's presidential primary.

They warned that reducing the number of polling places from 200 during the 2012 primary election to 60 would mean long lines and discourage people from voting.

They said the fact that some predominantly Latino areas got one or none polling places essentially translates into voter suppression.

Before, it was easy to dismiss their claims as pure conspiracy theories. It was difficult to fathom that Maricopa County election officials would purposely design a plan to keep people, especially minorities, away from the polls.

Well, think what you may. But the fact is that voting on Tuesday turned into long waits and traffic nightmares near some polling places, proving their case.


http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-voters-brave-long-lines-for-presidential-preference-election-8159491
But the state Democratic Party sent an e-mail to constituents asking them to send their election-day stories for a complaint that would be submitted to the Arizona Secretary of State's Office. Enrique Gutierrez, Arizona Democratic Party spokesman, said some Democrats waited in long lines — then were told they weren't really Democrats when they tried to obtain a ballot.

"We've received complaints throughout the whole day of lifelong Democrats showing up to the polls and being told they are either independent or have no party affiliations," Gutierrez said. No official election complaint will be submitted — yet, he says. But the party will continue to gather information.
~~~
Arizona State Senator Martin Quezada (D-Maryvale) sent out a news release on Tuesday claiming that if only several bills he sponsored this year had been passed, the problems would have been fixed.

"We are learning a valuable lesson today at the expense of suppressing many votes," Quezada said. "I call on the state and the county to implement additional polling locations, particularly in districts where large numbers of minority voters [of both parties] are heavily reliant on public transportation and have limited time to cast their vote."




Disenfranchisement is wrong, period.
People should not have to spend all day and into the night waiting to vote.
We all need to support a better process and encourage people to participate and demand the system be improved, not just for this primary, but for the elections to come.

[pat_k]

1. Kick 'n' rec (nt)

[suffragette]

4. Thanks. This reminds me of Ohio in 2004, when there were extraordinary long lines

which disproportionately affected college and African American voters.

I still remember watching videos that documented this on archive.org.

It was wrong then and it's wrong now.

[pat_k]

10. So reminiscent of Ohio 2004

Last edited Thu Mar 24, 2016, 02:59 AM - Edit history (2)

And on Jan 6, 2005, we watched proudly as Barbara Boxer and Stephanie Tubbs Jones stood and objected to the Ohio electors. So many worked to "get" a Senator. Even Conyers' office told us it was an impossible fight. It was an incredible victory. The Senate and Congress were forced to immediately adjourn to debate the question. And thus the systematic suppression was memorialized in the Congressional record, making it clear to any reasonable person that a second election had been stolen by Bush..

And in AZ the actions of the SOS disproportionately affected under 30's.

(Only 7% of early voters were under 30, with 41% over 65.)

It wasn't just happenstance that the the early vote massively favored Hillary. The demographics were known. The disproportionate consequences of the decision to make it extremely difficult to vote on election day were known. There is no denying that anyone in the "election business." would understand the effect. They can claim ignorance, but given their responsibilities, that would be absurd

Of course, even if the effect had been perfectly divided across all demographics, it still constitutes voter suppression.

I hope that a court orders AZ to reopen polls, and clean up their lists, to give every eligible voter a fair opportunity to cast their votes and have those votes counted. Nothing will "fix" this, but that's a reasonable "after the fact" remedy.

There is certainly precedent.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/18/1503536/-IL-County-Attny-on-New-Court-Order-Mandating-Late-Voting-Next-Week-in-Adams-BradCast-3-18-2016

[suffragette]

13. Yes, I remember going to DC in Jan 2005 to march with other DU'ers

because of this.

It was the first time I met people from DU in person.

Good point about young voters. They tend to register later and not vote as early. For many, the process is new. They should be encouraged more to participate, not discouraged from the process.

I noticed also the many elderly voters in the videos of the long lines. It took tremendous courage for them to hang in there. It must have been physically painful for many to endure that wait.

[pat_k]

15. Perhaps we met then! Who knows?

While I went in DC Jan 3, my "other half," Dusty, was at the Rally in Columbus:

I wish I could recall the name of the place some of us gathered the evening of Jan 5... and a number of other times we were down there.

[suffragette]

16. D.A.'s R.F.D. I had to look up some old threads to remember. Here are a couple,

A blast from the past!

I wonder if we did meet.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x235411

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x266916

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x270618

[pat_k]

17. Fantastic "blast from the past." Thanks!

[suffragette]

19. Wow, I just looked at your pic link. I'm the one with the curly hair.

We must have met.

[pat_k]

22. Love that you were captured in the moment!

I'm pretty sure the person you are sitting next to is Karyn Altman -- although I can't be positive from the back. Dusty is the one with the glasses farthest away from the camera. Since I'm the one taking the pic, I'm not in it, but here I am talking to Cynthia McKinney at the "Gathering to Save Our Democracy" in Nashville.

Some other "blasts from the past":

My favorite photo of Andy Stephenson (taking a break from the conference in Nashville).

And our "Declaration of Intent" (from our Declaration of Intent project -- challenging members of Congress to sign the declaration.)

You may already be aware, but we lost Karyn in December last year.

[suffragette]

24. Too many fine people gone.

That's a great photo of Andy.

I have one of him and me from first thing in the morning that day.

True Seattleites - we both look like we need more coffee that early in the day.

I remember in the evening he was talking about how he was in the elevator with a Congress person (maybe more than one) partway through the day and I think he was trying to persuade him to sign that Declaration. What I can't impart is the energy and wit he displayed in the telling of that encounter.

[pat_k]

42. I like to imagine them all joining forces to "lobby"...

...the metaphysical forces of the universe to help us get this nation on the path to redemption.

And, of course, to help Bernie WIN!

Andy, Karen, and Dusty were a pretty formidable bunch. If anyone could do it, they could. I've always believed that ultimately, it was Andy who brought Senator Boxer around. She just couldn't say no to him. His energy was SO infectious.

[suffragette]

43. Ok, now I'm smiling through my tears!

What a beautiful vision that is.

Three strong, funny and wise advocates lobbying away.

Thank you soooo much for this image of strength and hope.

[riversedge]

2. Thank you. both of these articles provide some conext for what is going

on in AZ related to voter suppression

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Thanks for getting it

voter suppression is ugly.

Before I get to go through sound... and the rest from the rally last night. Yesterday myself and a Bolivian reporter were going over how these shenanigans remind us of back home. Hey the Secret Service was keeping us cooling our heels... and this year's elections have many familiar elements... only missing thing is a torta and a coke to buy the vote.(And that might have happened as well).

I do not care who does it, but I will not be surprised one bit if whoever is leading in November, has the election stolen from under them... and given the powers that be, I would not be too shocked if that is Clinton. It started to become obvious in 2000... 2004 was bad (not that the story ever ran in the NYT, but it did in Excelsior in Mexico City).

Last night in AZ it was way, way, way too obvious.

[suffragette]

6. I appreciate your comment, riversedge. I would like to see Bernie and Hillary join together

And call for investigation into this. I say this as a Sanders supporter and would still say this as a Hillary supporter, too.

That also means connecting with the Democrats who have already expressed concerns and should include the Democratic delegation from the region as well

We need to make a stand now and make it together no matter who we support in this primary. People are being prevented from exercising their right to vote and once again it is especially suppressing the rights of minority, poor and young (new) voters. This won't impact them and us just today, but also in November and in local elections there.

[Ghost Dog]

8. Leaders from the Arizona branch of the Democratic Party have confirmed

Leaders from the Arizona branch of the Democratic Party have confirmed that its lawyers are officially making an inquiry after multiple Democratic voters showed up to the polls only to find that they were listed as independents, Republicans, or had no party affiliation at all...

DU thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/102411663

[suffragette]

9. Thanks. I hope they follow through.

The Republicans who caused this keep saying 'Well they could have voted early'

That doesn't address their responsibility to provide a reasonable and equitable way for those who go to the polling place to vote.

Found an older article that has a thorough accounting of the many ways that the Navajo vote there has been suppressed. Given last night, much of it is as relevant now as then.

http://www.colorlines.com/articles/how-native-voters-are-routinely-disenfranchised-arizona

[Ghost Dog]

14. Clearly visible.

The County, which has previously violated the Voting Rights Act, has inaccurately placed more than 500 people who attempted to register on a list that could permanently purge these would-be voters from the rolls. And most, if not all, of those affected are Navajo.

[suffragette]

21. Yes, clear as day.

And they keep on doing it.

[LiberalFighter]

25. Too many damn obstacles to voting that shouldn't be.

I wonder how many were affected and the details. It apparently happened in Maricopa and Pima counties? One Republican Recorder and the other a Democrat. If there is a strong indication of a problem it needs to be investigated.

The Maricopa county I think is much worse with the woman reducing the number of voting locations from 200+ to 60. Maricopa has a population of something like 3 million or so? In my county in another state it is just less than 500,000 and we will have 117 voting locations on election day. In addition, we have 4 satellite and one main voting election for early voting. There are a lot of voting locations that have multiple precincts. It makes me wonder how much chaos there is and how they can find enough locations to hold elections.

If Arizona has a higher number of seniors clogging up election day it could discourage them from voting.

[suffragette]

36. This bears repeating.

"Too many damn obstacles to voting that shouldn't be."


I don't think we will ever know how many we're affected by this since many likely had to leave the lines due to work, familial or other commitments. And there are the less visible means of suppression such as the permanent address, language and access issues noted in the article I posted about the Navajo.

[Ghost Dog]

3. Thanks for this, sufragette.

This appears to be very serious indeed.

I posted in this related thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=1557216

Courage

[suffragette]

7. Thank you for your support. I agree it is very serious.

And I think it doesn't matter which candidate we support in the primary. It's possible this impacted Sanders more. it's also possible that percentages would have been the same or favored Hillary even more.

What matters is that people should not be prevented or discouraged from participating. We need to raise our voices together about this now. Voter suppression and election fraud can only hurt us all, impacting both local elections and the general.

This issue is the reason I found DU in 2004 and I still care as deeply about it today as I did then.

[suffragette]

11. More about the pattern of suppression in Arizona

http://www.ibtimes.com/voting-rights-2016-native-americans-struggle-overcome-barriers-ahead-arizona-2340458


“Arizona was one of the states covered under the Voting Rights Act, and when it got gutted, that hurt people here a lot,” said Katherine Yell, director of operations for the Democratic Party in Coconino County, Arizona, which is about 27 percent American Indian. “Arizona has what I like to call draconian voter ID laws. You have to register in advance at least a month before the election, you have to have a photo voter ID with your permanent address on it, which makes it tough for people who travel for work because there’s not a lot of work on the reservations.”


Since the 2013 Supreme Court decision, states around the country that used to be covered by the Voting Rights Act have enacted new laws they say aim to prevent voter fraud but minority voters contend suppress their voting rights. Regulations such as Arizona’s voter ID law can be tough on Native Americans because tribes don’t require official identification and only recently started providing ID cards at all.

In another example, Arizona in 2014 put more than 500 registered Navajo voters on a “suspense list”, which moved their voting status to inactive because they did not have specific street addresses. But many people who live on reservations do not have house or street numbers, and Arizona’s voter registration form actually includes a box where Navajo voters can draw the location of their home to determine their precinct.

“We are in Arizona, so there is a lot of fear that minorities will become the majority. There’s fear about that so there’s an effort to suppress people from participating whether or not there’s data to support what they’re doing,” said Patty Ferguson-Bohnee, director of Arizona State University’s Indian Legal Clinic, which works to protect American Indian voting rights.

[MerryBlooms]

12. Rec & Kick.

Shameful.

[suffragette]

20. Yes, absolutely shameful.

We have to keep lifting our voices to stop this.

[me b zola]

23. Everyone who posts in GD:P should care about this topic

We should all care about the right of a person to cast their vote and have it counted...correctly.

[suffragette]

26. Yes, we all should care just as you note.

Thank you for expressing this so well.

[Metric System]

27. This isn't about Hillary vs Bernie. A lot of Hillary supporters were disenfranchised too. The blame

falls squarely on Arizona Republicans at the state and local levels. This isn't directed at the OP, I'm just pointing this out because some Sanders supporters have claimed it's a Clinton conspiracy.

[me b zola]

28. We should all be standing together on this issue

without regard to whom our candidate is.

[jillan]

30. That means so much to me to see your post. And I agree about the conspiracy theories -there is proof

that what happened yesterday was a direct result of legislation that the repugs in our state government put into law.

[yardwork]

33. Exactly. This is Democratic voter suppression, period.

[suffragette]

37. Yardwork, I appreciate your response and recommendation.

Worth repeating:
This is Democratic voter suppression, period.

And we all need to band together against this.

[suffragette]

34. Agree with you. This is about the Republicans disenfranchising voters.

Thank you for participating in this thread.

We need to stand together to denounce the suppression and get positive changes in place.

[Uncle Joe]

29. There is simply no excuse for it.

Thanks for the thread, suffragette.

[suffragette]

38. Thank you for stating the fact so directly.

No excuse for it, indeed.

[Kaleva]

31. rec & kick

[suffragette]

39. Thank you!

[yardwork]

32. This is what happens when Republicans take over states.

[suffragette]

40. Yes and we've seen it too damn many times over the years.

I'm determined as ever to not take it quietly and to keep fighting it.

[seabeyond]

35. Democrats, fighting for the voter. Nt

[suffragette]

44. Yes and Republicans trying to grind us down.

Thanks for your post, seabeyond.