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Published on Mar 28, 2016
On March 28, 2016, hundreds of people attended a hearing at the Arizona State Capitol to voice their outrage over the voting debacle in last Tuesday's Presidential Preference election. Thousands of people waited in long lines for up to 6 hours to vote, single parents and working people had to leave, disabled and elderly voters couldn't find parking and had a difficult time, many people who had changed their party affiliation from Independent to Dem or Rep were told they were registered as Independents, and many people who had been registered with one party for years were told they were in the system as an Independent. Only 60 polling locations were open in a county with more than 1.9 million register voters, and in many minority and working class neighborhoods, there were no polling places at all.
Some of these people spoke out at the public hearing, yet there were many who had signed in to speak, probably taken the day off of work to be there, and were ultimately denied the right to speak, as the hearing was cut so the legislators could go to the Floor.
Both Representatives Clark and Larkin voiced displeasure over the hearing being cut short, and pushed for the Floor Session to be delayed or postponed until those who had signed up to speak had the chance.
Chairwoman and Rep. Ugenti (who was a lead sponsor on a recent voter suppression bill) - HB2023, denied the Representatives and the people and cut the hearing short.
Many of these citizens then went to the gallery to watch as the House was scheduled to vote on a dark money bill today, SB1516.
Some of the people in the gallery were making comments, though we personally didn't see the people who were dragged out doing or saying anything to provoke what happened. We were sent video clips of this same gentleman being harassed by security during the hearing, prior to what happened, we believe based on his appearance (Guy Fawkes mask on top of head and dreadlocks).
What we witnessed today was an abuse of power, a disgrace to democracy and an outright attack on free speech and peaceful protest.
We are thankful to Representative Ken Clark and Adrian Fontes (who is running against Helen Purcell for Maricopa County Recorder - www.electfontes.com) for assisting in calming the crowd so no one else was injured.
We have a long way to go to turn back the damage that has been done to suppress the vote of the people - especially for minorities and the working-class. We MUST fight for our democracy together. What happened today should not have happened and the public should be given a platform to both hold their elected officials accountable while also sharing their first-hand stories of their vote being suppressed.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
― Margaret Mead
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