Mary Jo Pitzl, Anne Ryman, and Rob O'Dell

The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX —Long lines were the norm in Maricopa County throughout Tuesday's presidential primary election, as the county felt the strain of serving thousands of voters in 60 polling sites, a reduction of nearly three-quarters from four years ago.

As the polls closed at 7 p.m., hundreds of voters still in line dug in for a long wait, chatting as darkness fell and playing on their cellphones. There were more than 600 voters in line at the Church of the Nazarene polling site in Maryvale. In north-central Phoenix, a three-hour-plus wait was in store for an estimated 600 to 700 voters at the Church of the Beatitudes.

Pregnant and patient, Jennifer Wilson was the official last person in a line of an estimated 400 voters at the poll at First United Methodist Church in Gilbert.

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"I want to make sure the right I have to vote is exercised, because so many people died for it," she said. "And I can't complain if I don't vote."

But complaints were in ready supply as the day — and the lines — wore on.

Joe Oddo, 62, of Phoenix, said he has voted at the Church of Beatitudes in north-central Phoenix for 25 years and never waited longer than 15 minutes to cast a ballot. On Tuesday, it was 3½ hours.

"This is unconscionable," Oddo said. "Somebody must be accountable for this."

Maricopa County shifted to 60 polling places — down from the 200-plus in use during the 2012 presidential primary — to save money and to reflect the reduced demand for in-person voting as the number of voters who mail in their ballots continues to rise. In 2008, there were 400 polling places.

In contrast to four years ago, voters also could go to any of the 60 county polling sites. Four years ago, voters had to go to a designated polling place for their vote to count.

“It saves a lot of money,” said Elizabeth Bartholomew, communications manager for the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, which conducted the election. “And there are fewer people who vote.”

Only people registered with the Democratic, Green or Republican parties were eligible to vote in Tuesday's primary. In Maricopa County, that pencils out to 1.25 million eligible voters, compared with the 2 million who are registered overall.

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The county identified the 60 sites used as polling places by looking at areas with high mail-in ballot returns, and tried to get several sites in every major city. Phoenix had 12. Mesa had four. Cities on the edges of the county, such as Wickenburg and Gila Bend, had one site each.

But county officials appeared to miscalculate the level of enthusiasm for primary races that had not yet been sewn up. Other counties didn't have problems with long lines, but also had more polling places. In Pima County, there were 130 sites for one-quarter as many voters as went to the polls in Maricopa County.

At the Church of the Beatitudes, a poll worker in late afternoon told a line of voters who had been waiting nearly three hours that the site had run out of ballots.

"I wouldn't say that too loudly," cautioned one voter.

About 15 minutes later, a small box of ballots arrived.

Maricopa County Elections Director Karen Osborne said she was told the location had run low on ballots, but was not aware of the supply being exhausted.

By mid-afternoon, the Democratic and Republican parties had sent advisories to voters, reminding them they could still vote as long as they were in line by 7 p.m. Democrat Bernie Sanders' campaign urged supporters to get the names of any poll worker who would tell them to leave.

When polls closed, there were few protests as poll workers marched to the end of the waiting lines to announce who the last voter was who would be allowed in.

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In downtown Phoenix, Charles Harris began enforcing the closure at about 7:02 p.m.

A minute later, Harris turned away a man who tried to get in line.

"So you plan to violate my right to vote?" he said to Harris.

"At this point, yes," Harris replied. "The line ends with me."

The man left, angry.

Sandi Steele had line-closing duty at the Maryvale site, politely turning away late arrivals. At closing time, the line snaked out of the church, turned north on 51st Avenue, then east on Osborn Road. Steele said she had no estimate on how long it would take to get all those voters to a ballot.

Complicating the confusion at the polls were registered Independents showing up to vote, leading to a surge in provisional ballots.

“These are Independent voters,” said Osborne. “They refuse to not vote, and federal law requires they be given a ballot.”

But if the voters casting the provisional ballot are determined not to be registered with one of the three parties, their vote will not count.

“In Coconino County, they’re handing them out like candy,” Osborne said of the provisional ballots.

Yesenia Alteres, 18, waited for more than 20 minutes in a line that wrapped around the Maryvale polling place. Alteres was prepared to cast her first-ever vote in a presidential race, unaware that as a registered Independent her vote would not be tallied in the presidential primary.

An organizer broke the news to her when she reached the front of the line.

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Alteres said she would have voted for Sanders.

Alex Speth, 31, was casting his first ballot in Arizona after moving to Phoenix from Davenport, Iowa. He waited about 2 ½ hours in mid-afternoon, he estimated, and was surprised at the length.

Was it worth it?

"We'll see," said Speth, a Sanders supporter.

Contributing: Dan Nowicki, Ricardo Cano, Lindsey Collom, Chris Coppola, Ken Alltucker, Dennis Wagner, Ronald J. Hansen, Dianna M. Náñez, Caitlin McGlade and Brenna Goth, The Arizona Republic