Democrats are Rightfully Wary of Voter Registration Problems

Reports are widespread that Democratic Party primary voters across the state of Arizona have run into issues with their voter registration, causing long lines and an excessive use of provisional ballots. Two of the last voters at the Maryville polling location in Phoenix were, “forced to use provisional ballots” after waiting until 11:20PM to cast their vote.

Volunteers were handing out snacks, providing refreshments and playing music according to Bernie Sanders supporter Maria Castro of Phoenix. Some members of her own family had been forced to vote by provisional ballot, and she expressed frustration over Secretary Clinton declaring victory long before many people had the ability to cast their ballot.

Polls closed at 7PM in Arizona, however the wait time was upwards of five hours at some polling locations, and some polls were reportedly still processing voters as of the writing of this article.

The issues appear to stem, at least in part, from an issue with the state database not correctly identifying voters as Democrats. According to the ADP communications director Enrique Gutierrez, “We’ve been getting calls all day from lifelong Democrats who have been registered as independents.”

Whether the election would change the result of who “won” Arizona is not important, as that is a horse race argument of little value in the Democratic race. To be sure, with proportional delegates, nearly any significant structural problems with the election could cost a candidate delegates due to small swings in percentages.

What is important is to recognize that this election was a failure. The sheer numbers of problems rival that of the problems head from Florida in 2000 or Ohio in 2004, however they are glossed over because Arizona was simply one rest stop on the Interstate, and now that it’s over, Arizona is the abandoned stretch of Route 66 in the rear-view mirror.

As someone who became interested in politics as a “disenfranchised voter”, when that phrase was widely known to mean South Florida voters, I empathize heavily with the voters of Arizona who have been criminally mistreated by their state.

While I never got to vote in 2000 thanks to incompetence in the Broward County, FL Elections Division, I hope that the disenfranchised Arizona voters have a chance to try this again. Whether it’s only a re-vote of the non-early vote or a complete re-vote is beyond me. Without doing it right, the results of doing it wrong are tainted.

As such, what happened Tuesday was obviously not the will of the people, and the results from Tuesday’s Primary should be vacated. Arizona’s delegates should not be slated based on those votes.