Polls stay open 2 hours later in this Arizona county after Navajo Nation sued

An Apache County Superior Court judge granted a motion by the Navajo Nation to keep the county's nine polling places open until 9 p.m.

Arizona's polling places close at 7 p.m. Navajo Nation president Buu Nygren said the tribe sued for a two-hour emergency extension because an unspecified number of voters weren’t able to vote due to malfunctioning voting machines, shortages of printed ballots, long wait times and miscommunication about provisional ballots.

Judge Michael Latham granted the nation's motion after the tribal government was able to prove technical issues at those locations.

"We needed that to happen. Because it was very critical. People were being turned away. Its hard enough to get to the polls and then on top of that, telling that we’re not going to be able to do it," Nygren said in an interview with KJZZ.

A bomb threat shuttered a polling location in Kayenta for an hour, Nygren said.

"Just unfortunate things that happen on Navajo, but I’m just glad that at least got the nine precincts that stayed open until 9 o'clock," Nygren said.

"I think it’s very frustrating for the Navajo people who are out there telling us they’re waiting 3 and 4 hours to vote and it’s cold. Temperatures are in the 40s now and continuing to drop," said Katherine Belzowski, an assistant attorney general in the Navajo Nation Department of Justice.

"We’re very pleased with the judge’s ruling in the sense that he recognized the county take some responsibility for the fact that their voting machines went down for hours today," Belzowski said.

Nygren has called for Navajo voters to stay in line. Congressional District 2 candidate and former Navajo president Jonathan Nez joined that call.