Arizona Secretary of State: Statement on Presidential Preference Election

[brooklynite]

The issues that arose with the amount of time voters had to stand in line, confusion surrounding eligibility and other issues are completely unacceptable and my office will launch a full-scale statewide review of county election policies and procedures surrounding yesterday’s election.

“What happened to Maricopa County voters yesterday was awful. I can honestly say that as of right now we have no explanation why county election officials decided to reduce the number of polling places down to only 60 locations. While each individual county makes their own decisions, I need to make sure yesterday's polling place upheaval doesn't happen at our next statewide election on May 17th. Or worse, the presidential general election in November when thousands more new voters will be casting ballots for the first time.

“Yesterday, I spent all day trying to help voters. Today, I have refocused my energy on finding out the what and why of the county decisions that were made that led to severe polling delays. Election officials are constantly looking for ways to improve. If we find that the laws need to change, we will lead the charge.

“In fact, next week I will announce a series of bipartisan public hearings in the areas most effected by the problems at the polls. Our office will generate an action report on the outcome of those hearings and present it as a part of the next Election Procedures Manual meeting with all fifteen county election officials in attendance.

“To help alleviate concerns with provisional or early ballots, we’ve also created an online tracking tool (www.voter.azsos.gov) where voters can find out when their ballot was processed and counted.

“I woke up at 3 am yesterday morning so excited for the election and full of hope for the people who were voting. I feel awful that some of them may have given up and gone home or had to go back to work. Voters deserve so much better and government should be held accountable.”

http://www.azsos.gov/about-office/media-center/press-releases/849

[1StrongBlackMan]

1. Be care ... dig too deeply ...

ALEC or the Goldwater Institute might appear.

[panader0]

2. Wait, isn't the Sos the person responsible for elections?

"county election officials" are the responsible ones now?
To me, it doesn't matter who someone wants to vote for--I want that vote counted.
I want voting to be easier for everyone, no disenfranchisement whatsoever.
It has gotten to the point, after the sham (s)election of Bush, the hijinks of 2004, 2008, 2012,
and the numerous problems this year, regardless of candidate, that our system of voting is
very questionable. The very essence of Democracy, your vote, is now in jeopardy. Will it even count?
Will you even be able to cast a ballot? Why do states have so many different ways to vote?

[brooklynite]

3. SOS sets the broad rules...but implementation is frequently at a County City level

[Downwinder]

4. DMV is also involved with registration,

party affiliation and updating records.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

5. I'm suspicious of all of it from early voting, absentee voting, voting on Election Day. Have heard

about more problems with absentee ballots than anything though.

[jillan]

6. Don't fall for it. She is a Koch Republican. This was her fault. She knew exactly what she

was doing.

[pat_k]

7. That's nice. Now, what about...

... allowing "late voting" for the voters eligible to vote in the Democratic, Republican, and Green PPE to get their preferences on the record. You know. those voters you feel so terrible about? The ones that "may have given up and gone home or had to go back to work."

How about actually doing something to remedy the mess?

[corbettkroehler]

8. Sign The WH.gov Petition To Demand A Re-Vote (Yes, It Sounds Good)

He words are hollow. I would love to sympathize with her empathetic response except that I suspect that she was in on the rigging. How could she have been ignorant?

Sign the new WH.gov petition demanding a re-vote:

http://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/do-revote-arizona-primary-due-voter-suppression

[eomer]

9. This is just part of the way they manage to steal election after election. It's whack-a-mole.

Now that the theft of this election is a done deal we can talk about how to fix it in the future. But fix only this particular mode of theft in this particular place. In the next election cycle they will move on to stealing it somewhere else with some other technique. It's a never-ending game of whack-a-mole - we'll always be trying to whack the mole that already got away and never managing to prevent the one that's going to steal it in the next cycle.