Jaye McAuliffe/KJZZ

Hundreds of voters line up at the poll at the Arizona Historical Society Museum near Papago Park in Phoenix in November 2016.

(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.

Tuesday’s Arizona Presidential Preference Election produced long lines with thousands of Arizona voters waiting for several hours to cast ballots.  And in many instances, registered Democrats and Republicans walked away without voting.

Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell said she accepts “full responsibility” for yesterday’s voting fiasco, in which thousands of voters stood in line for hours to cast their ballots.

Purcell told the Associated Press that she made bad decisions based on the information that she had. She has since accepted full responsibility for yesterday’s voting fiasco, which saw just 60 polling places in a county of 2 million registered voters.

So what happened? Elizabeth Bartholomew with the Maricopa County Recorder and Elections Department explained.

"We looked at a couple of different numbers. The first number was the number of Independent voters we have. Almost a third of our voting roles, are Independent voters and unfortunately for this election, they were not eligible to vote. Then we looked at the amount of voters that were on our permanent early voter list," said Bartholomew.

As a result, she said, her office underestimated the number of voters who would come to the polls.

"We should have known the second these presidential candidates came to Arizona, that all eyes (were) on Arizona and more voters were going to turn out. Unfortunately we could not do anything about those 60 polling places. We’ve had these 60 polling places planned for several months," she said.

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Bartholomew said the county cut the number of polling sites from 200 based on the amount of Independent voters in the state who were ineligible to vote in yesterday’s election, as well as the number of voters on the permanent early voting list.

Maricopa County Board of Supervisor Steve Gallardo said he warned Purcell’s office about the cutting the number of polling sites a month ago.

"We knew Independents were going to show up. We knew voters were going to decide not to vote the early ballot and show up at the poll," said Gallardo.

Gallardo said there are still a lot of unanswered questions as to why so many voters were "disenfranchised."

Maricopa County Recorder’s Office is already thinking about the May 17 Special Election. 

This time, all registered voters will decide if they want to amend Arizona’s constitution. But there’s already concern regarding polling sites. The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office had planned to have only 60 polling places. But after yesterday, additional sites may be considered.

"We’re looking at maybe we can add more. What can we do now? What areas of Phoenix were the busiest?" said Bartholomew.

She said they have already added two more polling sites for that upcoming election.

The two issues at hand are Proposition 124, which would change certain benefits in the public safety personnel retirement system. Proposition 123 involves using funds from the State Land Trust to fund schools and colleges.

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Source: Maricopa County Recorder's Office