Sanders, Clinton, neck-and-neck at Window Rock
Bernie Sanders supporters hold up campaign signs as they leave the Navajo Nation Museum Tuesday.
WINDOW ROCK
An informal exit poll at the Navajo Nation Museum, the polling place in the Navajo Nation’s capital, showed Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in a dead heat among Democratic voters in Arizona’s Presidential preference election between 2 and 3 p.m.
In general, voters under 40 were feeling the Bern while those middle-aged and up were leaning toward Clinton.
Only two Republican voters surfaced during that time (at least among those who would talk to a Times reporter). One voted for Donald Trump while the other marked her ballot for Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Davis Begaye, who at 18 was voting in his first Presidential election, typified Sanders’ supporters.
“All these others are funded by big companies,” he said, “so they’ll give them more leeway. If you’re for the people, like Bernie, you do things like fix the roads and improve the schools.”
“He’s more about helping the people than big business,” echoed Shunah Sandoval, 29, who happened to have taken her daughter to the museum but planned to vote in her home chapter of Rock Springs, N.M.
The elder crowd, like Louis Begay, 67, remembered Clinton from her stint as head of Legal Services Corp. in the 1970s, when she helped establish DNA People’s Legal Services.
“She knows us,” said Begay.
A handful of female voters admitted they voted for Clinton because they are ready to see a woman President.
“Give a lady a chance!” urged a cheery matron who declined to give her name. “People are saying a lady can’t be a leader. But that’s mostly men saying that.”
The lone Trump supporter to brave the dusty wind gave only his first name, Wally.
“I think he’s the one who can change everything around,” Wally said. “We need to get this nation back on track.”
A middle-aged Republican who declined to give her name, on the other hand, said she went for Kasich because “I’m not voting for Donald Trump, that’s for sure.”
While southern Arizona news sources were reporting long lines at the polls, the flow at Window Rock was slow but steady. Polls on the Navajo Nation will close at 6 p.m. (an hour earlier than the rest of Arizona because of the time difference). According to the Arizona Secretary of State’s website, results should start being posted at 8 p.m. Arizona time, which is 9 p.m. on the Navajo Nation.
Utah is also holding its primaries today.
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