The Arizona Republic

Experts predict long lines for some on Election Day in Maricopa County

- REBEKAH L. SANDERS

Democrats say county election officials’ unwillingn­ess to follow recommenda­tions from independen­t experts could result in long Election Day lines at some Maricopa County polling places, potentiall­y violating a court settlement on the issue.

But the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, led by Helen Purcell, promises its plan will fulfill the agreement and keep lines to 30 minutes or less.

“We have real concerns,” Spencer Scharff, voter protection director for the Arizona Democratic Party, said in a written statement. “It is our hope that Maricopa County will heed the advice of these experts and work with them to ensure an efficient, properly resourced election in November.”

The disagreeme­nt centers on the county’s distributi­on of electronic poll books to polling places.

The tablet devices allow poll workers to quickly verify the status of any voter in the county and to direct that person to the correct polling location if the voter is in the wrong place.

The county deployed e-poll books in 2014 to solve problems faced with paper poll books. Paper poll books are difficult to update and only hold the names of voters at one precinct, leading to an increase in the use of time-consuming provisiona­l ballots.

Though e-poll books can speed lines, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office needs to use more of them to handle this year’s high turnout, according to a joint report by two experts, one of whom was hired by the county.

“(O)ur simulation results strongly suggest that, unless Election Day turnout is significan­tly lower in the 2016 General Election than it was in the 2012 General Election, there is a very real possibilit­y that large numbers of voters will wait in long lines to cast their ballots,” they wrote.

The county’s expert, University of South Carolina Professor Duncan Buell, and the Democrats’ expert, University of St. Thomas Professor Muer Yang, suggested at least 1,900 e-poll books be used at polling places, instead of the roughly 1,600 the county intends.

If turnout this year is the same as in the last presidenti­al election, nearly 40,000 Maricopa County voters will wait in line more than 30 minutes, the experts predicted. In some cases, voters would wait nearly an hour. That would mean excessive delays for about 8 percent of Election Day voters, they said.

Lines could be even longer than the experts warned if turnout is higher. Recorder’s Office spokeswoma­n Elizabeth Bartholome­w said she expects 2016 turnout to exceed 2012 levels.

“We definitely think it’s going to be higher than in previous elections simply because it’s the first contested election for president in eight years,” Bartholome­w said. “People are excited, and they want to go out and vote.”

Bartholome­w said the county does not have enough e-poll books to meet the experts’ recommenda­tions, and will not buy more. She said the county also will not follow the experts’ alternativ­e to increase early-voting-place hours and use paper poll books at small precincts on Election Day to free electronic devices for larger precincts.

Bartholome­w said there are plenty of early-voting sites. And on Election Day, the county must reserve e-poll books for roving “troublesho­oter” volunteers. TODAY IN HISTORY In 1478, the Spanish Inquisitio­n was establishe­d. In 1604, William Shakespear­e’s tragedy “Othello” was presented at Whitehall Palace in London. In 1765, the Stamp Act, passed by the British Parliament, went into effect, prompting stiff resistance from American colonists. In 1861, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln named Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan General-in-Chief of the Union armies, succeeding Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott. In 1870, the United States Weather Bureau made its first meteorolog­ical observatio­ns. In 1936, in a speech in Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini described the alliance between his country and Nazi Germany as an “axis” running between Rome and Berlin. In 1949, an Eastern Airlines DC-4 collided in midair with a Lockheed P-38 fighter plane near Washington National Airport, killing all 55 people aboard the DC-4 and seriously injuring the pilot of the P-38.

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