Who’s to blame for the long lines at polling places in Maricopa County? “The voters for getting in line, maybe us for not having enough polling places…” – Helen Purcell, Maricopa County Recorder
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation to find out why voters were forced to wait up to five hours to vote in Maricopa County, Arizona’s presidential primary last month, an issue that only existed because the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 2013.
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division sent a letter to the largest county in the state on Monday, demanding that it provide information so that the government can determine if the county complied with federal voting rights statutes. This appears to be the first major DOJ investigation into election issues since the presidential primary season began.