On Tuesday March 22, the day of the Arizona Presidential Preference Election, many Maricopa County voters were forced to wait in long lines for hours to mark their ballots. This event was mishandled, embarrassing and, in the words of presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, “a disgrace.”

According to “Phoenix New Times,” the normal waiting period was around 90 minutes, with some people staying upwards of four hours. The long lines were caused by the high voter turnout coupled with the lack of available polling locations, as only 60 were open this year, compared to roughly 200 in 2012 and 400 in 2008, as stated by “CNN”. These long lines likely discouraged potential voters, as the “New Times” saw people leave polling locations after discovering the wait time.

Martin Peters, a Veritas high-school senior, voted early and was able to escape these issues, but his friends were not so lucky. “My friend got there after the work day had ended, when the lines were getting even ridiculously longer, and he was waiting until midnight.” Fiona Lobo ’16 is only 17, but an 18-year-old friend of hers “stayed for like 2-3 hours.”  

Needless to say, voters filed complaints, calling for immediate action to ensure that this debacle is prevented in the future.

In response to the ensuing outrage, the Arizona Democratic Party asked voters to give details and feedback on the voting catastrophe. Some citizens have given feedback by way of protesting outside the office of County Recorder Helen Purcell, who has taken responsibility for this voting disaster, along with Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan. Now, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating. Chris Herren, the DOJ Voting Section chief requested in an April 1 letter for specific details regarding this fiasco to be sent to him by April 22, as detailed in the “New Times.”

In fact, according to “CNN”, a 2013 Supreme Court conclusion enabled Arizona to handle voting procedures with no federal involvement after decades of having supervision. Without that decision, it is likely that this entire misadventure would have been avoided. Peters added, “The federal government should regulate voting in states. Not regulating clearly didn’t work out at all.”

Lobo thinks that a lot of the ideas promoted are skewed by the media. “There is no clear answer. I cannot say one or the other,” she says when asked whether or not she thinks there was dishonesty in the voting procedures. Hopefully, after the DOJ investigation, there will be a clear answer for Lobo, Peters and future voters, for whom voting should be the easiest thing in the world.