Arizona election threats

Verification, database and rejection

 * According to FairVote, in 2004, "There were widespread problems in Maricopa county with people being dropped from the voter rolls or not being able to register through organizations unaffiliated with their county office. One woman reported the reaction of one poll worker after stating that she had registered at an Elizabeth Edwards rally: "that's no big loss- you registered for the wrong party anyway."

Felon voting rights
Quoting from an October, 2008 report on "de facto disenfranchisement" (summary)(download PDF) co-published by the Brennan Center for Justice and the ACLU:

"'Arizona law differentiates between individuals with first-time, single-count felony convictions and those with repeat or multiple felony convictions. Individuals with first-time, single-count felony convictions are automatically eligible to vote upon completion of sentence. By contrast, individuals with multiple felony convictions must satisfy a two-year waiting period and then apply to a court for restoration of their voting rights. Interviews with local election officials in 2007 revealed that half the officials interviewed were confused about the distinction in the treatment of these two groups. Additionally, over half the officials either responded incorrectly to the question of whether an individual convicted of more than one felony can ever vote again in Arizona, or did not know that individuals with two or more felony convictions could seek to have their rights restored.'"

See also "felon disenfranchisement" issue page

Voter suppression and intimidation

 * KVOA News 4 Tucson Pima County challenged over vote-counting for disabled November 3, 2008. (The Arizona Center for Disability Law files a civil rights complaint with the Justice Department over Pima County's intentions to count ballots of those with disabilities last.)

Voter caging, purging and other eligibility challenges

 * According to FairVote, in 2004, "A man appeared at several polling places wearing a millitary style belt and t-shirt with the words "U.S. Constitution Enforcer" and demanded that voters show him their ID, while videotaping them."

Voter intimidation and deception

 * According to FairVote, in 2004, "Voters in certain polling places in Maricopa and Pima county were told they could not enter the polling place if they were carrying a "Voter's Bill of Rights".

Voter ID requirements
"Arizona has one of the nation’s strictest voter ID laws, requiring each voter to produce either a photo ID bearing the voter’s name and address or two forms of non-photo ID containing name and address. Those without ID can cast a provisional vote, but the ballot will be rejected unless the voter returns with acceptable ID within five days of the election. Nearly 2,000 ballots were rejected in 2006 because the voter was unable to produce appropriate ID, almost three times the national rate."
 * According to an October, 2008 Demos study, in Arizona,

Polling place accessibility and wait times

 * According to FairVote, in 2004, "Voting lines were as long as 3-4 hours in some polling places."

Malfunctioning voting machinery

 * For an extensive log of voting machine problems, see the VotersUnite! report on election incidents.

Eligibility verification

 * According to FairVote, in 2004, "In Maricopa and Pima county some voters were issued a provisional ballot without any further investigation into the legitimacy of their registration and they were occcasionally told that their ballot probably wouldn't be counted anyway."

Ballots cast in wrong precinct
"Over 30 percent of the 21,211 rejected provisional ballots were thrown out because they were cast in the wrong precinct."
 * According to an October, 2008 Demos study, in Arizona,

Vote tabulation procedures

 * Nov 9, 2008: Tens of thousands of ballots remain to be counted in Maricopa County as of Sunday night. Election officials say that approximately 112,000 voters used provisional ballots on election day (out of 1.7 million registered voters), and these ballots must be individually qualified before counting. In many cases, the provisional ballot was issued because of address discrepancies between the voter rolls and the voter's I.D.; there were also reports of poll worker error on the part of the county's 7000+ volunteer poll workers. County officials say that the number of provisional ballots was not unusually high this election, given the record number of registrations. In 2004, there were 1.6 million registered voters, and 60,000 provisional votes were cast.  An additional 90,000 early votes were unreadable by voting machines due to tears, stray marks or the use of unapproved ink. According to Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell, these votes must be copied onto new ballots by hand and reprocessed, a process which will take over a week. Several local and state races remain unresolved pending election results.

Chain of custody of ballots and e-voting equipment

 * An election integrity advocate was arrested for asking questions after observing that ballot bags without the required security seals were being counted.