Arizona Democratic primary, 2016

Arizona Democratic primary, 2016 (under investigation)

March 22, 2016

Candidate Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders Home state New York Vermont Delegate count 42 33 Popular vote 262,464 192,965 Percentage 56.29% 41.39%

Election results by county. (Disputed)   Hillary Clinton   Bernie Sanders

The 2016 Arizona Democratic primary was held on March 22 in the U.S. state of Arizona as one of the Democratic Party's primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

On the same day, the Democratic Party held caucuses in Idaho and Utah, while the Republican Party held primaries in two states, including their own Arizona primary and a primary in American Samoa.

Voter suppression

There is considerable controversy surrounding the Arizona primary elections of 2016, specifically having to do with the dramatic decrease in polling places from 200 in 2012, to only 60 in 2016, despite the number of registered voters having increased from 300,000 in 2012 to 800,000 in 2016. This decrease in polling places was most pronounced in minority neighborhoods, most notably Latino neighborhoods, with areas like Central Phoenix having only 1 polling place for 108,000 voters. There were also reports of many voters who had been previously registered, coming up as unregistered, or registered as an independent, making them ineligible to vote. Voters who did manage to vote, had to stand in long lines to cast their ballots, some for as long as five hours.^[1] Additionally, voters reported being required to vote with a provisional ballot.^[2] In 2005, Arizona threw out 27,878 provisional ballots, counting only about 72.5% of the total provisional ballots reported.^[3] Taking into account Arizona's increasingly lax voting laws, and the amplifying effects of the Supreme Court's "gutting of the Voting Rights Act",^[4] it's unknown what percentage of the provisional ballots were counted. This was the first election in the state of Arizona since the 2013 Supreme Court decision to strike down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which would have previously required Southern states with a history of voter discrimination, including Arizona, to receive Federal approval before implementing any changes to voting laws and practices. These irregularities have led many to suspect a deliberate act of voter suppression and electoral fraud.

Within a day after the election took place on March 22, a petition went viral on the White House petitions site asking the Department of Justice to investigate voter suppression and election fraud in Arizona that reached its goal of 100,000 signatures in record time compared to other popular petitions.^[5] In addition, Phoenix mayor Greg Stanton asked the Justice Department to launch an investigation into the allegations of voter suppression.^[6]

The Department of Justice has since launched a federal investigation into the primary.^[7]

Opinion polling

Poll source	Date	1st	2nd	Other
Primary results	March 22, 2016	Hillary Clinton 57.6%	Bernie Sanders 39.9%	Other 2.4%
Merrill Poll[8] Margin of error: ± 5.4% Sample size: 300	March 7-11, 2016	Hillary Clinton 50%	Bernie Sanders 24%	Others / Undecided 26%
MBQF Consulting and Marson Media[9] Margin of error: ± 3.6% Sample size: 739	Published February 29, 2016	Hillary Clinton 56%	Bernie Sanders 22%	Others / Undecided 22%
Behavior Research Center[10] Margin of error: ± 7.3% Sample size: 186	October 24 – November 5, 2015	Hillary Clinton 47%	Bernie Sanders 19%	Martin O'Malley 2% Uncommitted 32%
One America News[11] Margin of error: ± 4.7% Sample size: 427	Published August 17, 2015	Hillary Clinton 56%	Bernie Sanders 34%	Joe Biden 6% Lincoln Chafee 2% Jim Webb 1% Martin O'Malley 1%
Public Policy Polling [12] Margin of error: ± 6% Sample size: 268	May 1–3, 2015	Hillary Clinton 58%	Bernie Sanders 16%	Lincoln Chafee 5% Jim Webb 5% Martin O'Malley 4% Not sure 12%

Results

Arizona Democratic primary, March 22, 2016
Candidate	Popular vote		Estimated delegates
	Count	Percentage	Pledged	Unpledged	Total
Hillary Clinton	262,459	56.29%	42	5	47
Bernie Sanders	192,962	41.39%	33	2	35
Others / Uncommitted	10,814	2.8%
Uncommitted	N/A			3	3
Total	465,675	100%	75	10	85
Source: Arizona Secretary of StateThe Green Papers

Detailed results per congressional district

Detailed results for the Arizona Democratic primary, April 5, 2016^[13][14]

District	Total		Hillary Clinton			Bernie Sanders
	Votes	Delegates	Votes	%	Delegates	Votes	%	Delegates
1st district	63,863	6	35,445	55.50%	3	26,267	41.13%	3
2nd district	78,237	8	42,797	54.70%	4	33,891	43.32%	4
3rd district	51,520	5	30,298	58.81%	3	20,091	39.00%	2
4th district	37,273	4	15,289	55.43%	2	20,662	41.02%	2
5th district	40,847	5	22,973	56.24%	3	16,982	41.57%	2
6th district	50,465	6	29,266	57.99%	4	20,259	40.14%	2
7th district	42,199	5	24,245	57.45%	3	17,173	40.70%	2
8th district	46,491	5	27,672	59.52%	3	17,651	37.97%	2
9th district	55,340	6	29,101	52.59%	3	25,359	45.82%	3
At-large delegates	466,235	16	262,459	56.29%	9	192,962	41.39%	7
Pledged PLEOs	466,235	9	262,459	56.29%	5	192,962	41.39%	4
Total	466,235	75	262,464	56.29%	42	192,965	41.39%	33

References

1. "Election Other – President Obama Job Approval". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
2. Sabato, Larry J. (May 11, 2015). "Clinton’s Real Opponent: Barack Obama". Politico. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
3. Beal, Tom (29 January 2005). "Counties inconsistent in provisional-vote rules. Was your vote counted?". votersunite.org. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
4. "Voting Rights Act Section 4 Struck Down By Supreme Court".
5. "Petition to White House about Arizona 'voter suppression' hit goal in about 40 hours".
6. Cohn, Nate (January 16, 2015). "What a Rise in Obama’s Approval Rating Means for 2016". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). Retrieved March 25, 2016.
7. Lachman, Samantha; Reilly, Ryan J. (April 4, 2016). "The DOJ Is Investigating Arizona's Election Mess". The Huffington Post. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
8. "New Arizona poll: Trump, Clinton lead but ample undecideds". March 15, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
9. "Clinton dusting Sanders in Arizona poll". February 29, 2016.
10. "HILLARY CLINTON BESTS BERNIE SANDERS IN TEST PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY ELECTION BY 47% TO 19%" (PDF). November 19, 2015.
11. "Arizona Polling Results" (PDF). One America News. Retrieved 2015-08-20.
12. "Clinton Closely Matched With Most Republicans in Arizona" (PDF). Publicpolicypolling.com. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
13. The Green Papers
14. "2016 Arizona District-Level Delegate Math" (PDF). Arizona Democratic Party. April 5, 2016. Retrieved April 8, 2016.