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Phoenix Mayor Calls For Justice Department Probe Into Voting Fiasco

line of voters
(Photo by Jacob McAuliffe - KJZZ)
Many polling place lines, like this one at the Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park, wrapped on for hours on March 22, 2016.

Following Tuesday’s voting fiasco in which thousands of voters were forced to wait hours in line to cast their ballots in the Presidential Preference Election, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton wants the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate. 

"Obviously, Phoenix we’re a majority minority city so that has a disproportionate negative impact on our minority communities and that does implicate the Voting Rights Act, and that’s why I thought it was appropriate the department of justice come in and review and tell us how we can do better in the future," he said.

There were just 60 polling sites during Tuesday’s Presidential Preference Election, down from 200 in 2012. County Recorder Helen Purcell accepted “full responsibility” for the voting problems.

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KJZZ senior field correspondent Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets — nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.