By Dustin Gardiner | Arizona Republic
For thousands of voters in Arizona’s largest county, March 22, 2016 is a day they will never forget.
They stood in line, for up to five hours, to cast a ballot in the state’s presidential preference election — a fiasco that sparked national outrage and cries of voter suppression.
Now, a new report seeks to explain what led to unprecedented lines at the polls in Maricopa County, and to quantify the number of voters harmed as a result.
The analysis was compiled by Jeffrey Mason, a former business systems analyst for the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, who spent months reviewing the 2016 election, along with other issues at the office.
Among the key findings in his report: concerns about a cut in state funding for the election led county elections officials to scale back the number of poll workers — a decision that created long lines for voters.
