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Report: Thousands of Votes Rejected in November

PBS

A recently released study breaks down the reasons why thousands of ballots statewide were rejected in last November’s general election. As Arizona Public Radio’s Justin Regan reports, they range from incomplete information to voting at the wrong precinct.

The study was conducted collaboratively by the Arizona Advocacy Foundation, One Arizona and the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona. It found that in the 2014 general election, nearly 12.5% of provisional ballots in Arizona were not counted.

Almost half were tossed out because voters cast ballots at the wrong location. Patty Hansen is the Coconino County Recorder. She says the issue was further complicated by The Navajo Nation election.

“To vote in that election, you have to vote at your chapter house. Well, if they’re registered to vote here in Flagstaff for the state and county, federal elections they need to vote here. And what happens is they end up voting in Leupp and it doesn’t count, because they put a Flagstaff address down as their residence,” said Hansen.

Results also found that statewide, about 20% of the ballots that were rejected were because people weren’t registered to vote. The study has been ongoing for nearly a decade. Since 2006, researchers found that nearly 170,000 provisional and mail-in ballots have been rejected from state elections.

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