Democratic Party, candidates suing Arizona over primaries
CHINLE
The Arizona Democratic Party and Senate hopeful Ann Kirkpatrick’s election committee have joined a federal lawsuit filed Friday by the U.S. Democratic Party and presidential candidates Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders over the long lines and “chaos” that characterized last month’s presidential primary election.
The party issued a statement last Thursday calling the election “nothing short of a fiasco” and asking the state to add polling places in time for the general election.
The lawsuit seeks additional polling places and also to prevent the state from enforcing a law signed last month by Gov. Doug Ducey that made it a felony to deliver someone else’s mail-in ballot to the polls — a measure the plaintiffs say most heavily impacts the elderly and minorities, who are less likely to have transportation.
Among other things, the suit cites an analysis by the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting that found nearly 46,000 ballots were rejected in Arizona’s 2012 election, and that the trend had occurred in previous cycles.
The Democrats say the lack of polling places was most acute in heavily Black and Latino areas of Maricopa County, where people waited in line to vote for nearly five-and-a-half hours. The county had reduced the number of polling places from 200 to 60 as a cost-cutting measure.
Long lines weren’t a problem on the Navajo Nation, but several voters complained to the Times that they were turned away from Democratic primary because they were told they were registered as independents or Republicans. The callers said they were certain they had registered as Democrats.
To read the full article, pick up your copy of the Navajo Times at your nearest newsstand Thursday mornings!
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