Arizona’s disenfranchisement of voters on March 22nd was no accident.
Arizona’s history of disenfranchising, and openly discriminating against, Latinos, Native Americans and many others points to something else entirely. Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell says that she “made a mistake” when Maricopa County closed 70% of the county’s polling locations (largely in Latino and poor neighborhoods, of course). Just a miscalculation. Nothing to see.
Right.
Just like they made a “mistake” in 2012 when Maricopa County listed the wrong election date on the Spanish version of voter registration cards.
Or when Arizona passed voter suppressing, voter id restrictions, including citizenship proof that is only required by two states out of fifty. Or a bill that makes it a felony for non-profits to submit mail-in ballots on behalf of working people.
The 2013 Shelby v Holder decision by a right wing version of the Supreme Court, weakened the Voting Rights Act and helped allow this to happen, but it also took willful effort on the part of election officials to disenfranchise many Arizonians.
I waited in line for over three hours to vote in the morning, right when they opened, on the way to work. My wife and daughter waited over four hours in the middle of the day. It only got worse later. And, of course, my neighborhood is “poor,” and largely Hispanic.
Most working people can’t afford to miss work, and wait five or more hours to vote. But in the end that was the point after all.
