Yvonne Wingett Sanchez

The Republic | azcentral.com

Thousands of people waited in long lines to vote, even after the race had been called

A county election spokeswoman could not explain the disparity in polling locations

Although thousands of people flooded polling places in Phoenix, Gilbert, Glendale and Mesa, voters were scarce at several other sites in Maricopa County.

For Tuesday's presidential preference election, the county reduced the number of polling places to 60 from 200, causing crushing foot traffic and voting delays for thousands of infuriated voters. But a new county report shows not everyone was greeted by crowds at the polls.

Three polling locations with low numbers were on Native American reservations, a county spokeswoman said. By state law, elections officials are prohibited from including tribal areas as they consolidated polling sites.

But at least two other outlying locations, including in Laveen and Gila Bend, also saw scarce turnout.

Elizabeth Bartholomew, spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Recorder's Office, which conducted the election, could not explain why Gila Bend had two sites while highly populated areas in Phoenix and the East and West valleys didn't have enough sites to handle the traffic.

"We did try to put one in every major town and city in the county, and then extra in larger populated areas," Bartholomew said. "Some of these towns and cities are so far away that if we weren’t to put one there, they would have to drive forever to get to the closet one."

The report shows:

Twenty-one people voted at the Kaka Village Community Center, near Gila Bend and on the Tohono O'odham Reservation. Of those, eight cast provisional ballots. Elections Director Karen Osborne said 44 people in that voting area are registered to vote. State statute prohibits election officials from consolidating polling places on reservations, and county elections officials said it's located in a remote area more than two hours from Gila Bend.

Thirty people made their way to the Fort McDowell Indian Community Recreation Center, which is on tribal land northeast of Phoenix. Ten of them voted by provisional ballot.

Thirty-six people voted at the San Lucy District Administration Building in Gila Bend; of those 10 cast provisional ballots. A county spokeswoman said this, too, is located on a Native American reservation, and the location could not be consolidated.

One hundred eleven people turned out to the Gila Bend Town Hall, where 10 of them voted provisionally.

In Laveen, 126 people voted at a community service center; three of them voted provisionally.

By contrast, other locations were slammed. Four Valley locations had to handle an estimated 3,000 voters or more.

At seven polling places, more than 600 people voted provisionally — increasing the waits to vote. One poll worker estimated it takes 10 to 15 minutes to cast a provisional ballot. The most provisional ballots were cast at a recreation center in Tolleson, where 798 people filled out provisional ballots.

County officials estimated they saved about $1 million by reducing the number of polling sites this election.

Bartholomew said elections officials plan to double the number of polling sites for the May 17 special election to consider a $3.5 billion education-funding initiative. She said future elections will have more locations in Phoenix, Mesa, Glendale, Scottsdale and Chandler.

There were 103,345 votes cast Tuesday, and about 23 percent were provisional ballots. Many of the provisional ballots won't be counted because they were cast by independents who didn't change their party affiliation to Republican, Democrat or Green. Voters must register with one of those parties to participate in the presidential preference election.

Arizona primary: Maricopa County poll workers wonder what might have cut waits

Follow the reporter on Twitter @yvonnewingett and reach her at yvonne.wingett@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4712.