title:  White House Petition Calling For Ariz. Primary Investigation Receives 100k Signatures
text: A petition calling on the Obama administration to investigate alleged voter suppression and voter fraud in the Arizona primary has received 100,000 signatures in only 24 hours. That means that the White House must provide a public response on the matter.If it was not clear that people are furious over the Arizona primary fiasco, it should be now. Thousands of voter were forced to wait for hours in line during the election. Phoenix s mayor, Greg Stanton, has even sent a letter to the Justice Department demanding that they launch an investigation into the primary. Maricopa County appears to be the county hit hardest by the election disaster. Maricopa County is a racially diverse area, meaning people of color were also disproportionately hurt by this disaster.Here is the full text of the petition: Petition to have the Obama Administration investigate the voter fraud and voter suppression on 3/22/2016 in ARIZONA. Numerous voters who switched from Independent to Democrat could not vote and were turned away or given provisional ballots which in turn were never counted. We the people of the United States of America find this act alarming and would like a complete investigation to uncover the violations that occurred during the Arizona voting on 3/22/2016 and prosecute those responsible to the fullest extent of the law. In Maricopa County, there was only one polling location available for every 108,000 residents. That s because County officials decided to cut the number of polling locations down by 85% compared to the number of 2008 presidential preference election.To further demonstrate the slap in the face that was the Arizona primary election, the Associated Press began projecting Clinton as the winner of the race while hundreds of voters still stood in line waiting to vote. Regardless of whether those still waiting in line may have changed the outcome of the election, we live in a democracy where every vote matters. Announcing the projected winner(s) of an election sends a message to those who waited hours in lines that their attempts to participate in our democracy were nothing but a waste of time.Then there is the matter of the thousands of voters who waited hours in line, only to be told that they cannot vote due their party affiliation. Those people were given the option to fill out a provisional ballot. That sounds like a good solution to a very unfortunate problem. However, Arizona has a long history of provisional ballots being rejected, at rates double that of states with double the size of Arizona s population.This hurts voters that the Democrats need the most. Namely young and or first-time voters and those who wish to jump the sinking ship that is the Republican Party and those registered as Independents. An estimated 4,000 people in Maricopa County changed their political party affiliation from Independent to Democrat prior to the election.Featured Image Photo by Jonathan Gibby/Getty Images 