 | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
 Results by county: Clinton: 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% Sanders: 50-60% | |||||||||||||||||||
| Elections in Arizona | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||
| ||||||||
The2016 Arizona Democratic presidential primary was held on March 22 in the U.S. state ofArizona as one of theDemocratic Party's primaries ahead of the2016 presidential election.
On the same day, theDemocratic Party held caucuses inIdaho andUtah, while theRepublican Party held primaries in two states, including their ownArizona primary and a primary in American Samoa.
There was controversy surrounding the Arizona primary elections of 2016, specifically having to do with the decrease in polling places inMaricopa County from 200 in 2012 to only 60 in 2016, enacted by Republican officials despite the number of registered voters having increased from 300,000 in 2012 to 800,000 in 2016.[2][3] This decrease in polling places was most pronounced in minority neighborhoods, most notablyLatino neighborhoods, with areas like Central Phoenix having only one polling place for 108,000 voters. There were also reports of voters who had been previously registered coming up as unregistered or registered as an independent, making them ineligible to vote in the closed primary.[2] Voters who did manage to vote had to stand in long lines to cast their ballots, some for as long as five hours.[4] Additionally, voters reported being required to vote with a provisional ballot.[5] In 2005, Arizona threw out 27,878 provisional ballots, counting only about 72.5% of the total provisional ballots reported.[6] This was the first election in the state of Arizona since the 2013Supreme Court decision to strike down Section 5 of theVoting Rights Act of 1965, which would have previously required states with a history of voter discrimination, including Arizona, to receive Federal approval before implementing any changes to voting laws and practices. In Maricopa County, Republican officials have conducted voter purges that disproportionately affected poor and minority areas.[7]
Within a day after the election took place on March 22, a petition went viral on the White House petitions site asking theDepartment of Justice to investigate voter suppression and election fraud in Arizona.[8] The petition reached 100,000 signatures in 40 hours,[9] and as of June 5, 2016, nearly 220,000 people had signed the petition. The White House responded on May 20, 2016. In addition, Phoenix mayorGreg Stanton asked the Justice Department to launch an investigation into the allegations of voter suppression.[10]
Both the Clinton and Sanders campaigns, as well as theDemocratic National Committee, sued the Arizona state government over the alleged voter suppression.[11] The Department of Justice has since launched a federal investigation into the primary.[12]
| Poll source | Date | 1st | 2nd | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Official Primary results[13] | March 22, 2016 | Hillary Clinton 56.3% | Bernie Sanders 41.4% | Others 2.3% |
| Merrill Poll[14] Margin of error: ± 5.4% | March 7–11, 2016 | Hillary Clinton 50% | Bernie Sanders 24% | Others / Undecided 26% |
| MBQF Consulting and Marson Media[15] Margin of error: ± 3.6% | Published February 29, 2016 | Hillary Clinton 56% | Bernie Sanders 22% | Others / Undecided 22% |
| Behavior Research Center[16] Margin of error: ± 7.3% | October 24 – November 5, 2015 | Hillary Clinton 47% | Bernie Sanders 19% | Martin O'Malley 2% Uncommitted 32% |
| One America News[17] Margin of error: ± 4.7% | 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[18] Margin of error: ± 6% | May 1–3, 2015 | Hillary Clinton 58% | Bernie Sanders 16% | Lincoln Chafee 5% Jim Webb 5% Martin O'Malley 4% Not sure 12% |
| Candidate | Popular vote | Estimated delegates | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | Percentage | Pledged | Unpledged | Total | |
| Hillary Clinton | 262,459 | 56.3% | 42 | 6 | 48 |
| Bernie Sanders | 192,962 | 41.4% | 33 | 1 | 34 |
| Martin O'Malley(withdrawn) | 3,877 | 0.8% | |||
| Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente | 2,797 | 0.6% | |||
| Michael Steinberg | 2,295 | 0.5% | |||
| Henry Hewes | 1,845 | 0.4% | |||
| Uncommitted | N/a | 3 | 3 | ||
| Total | 466,235 | 100% | 75 | 10 | 85 |
| Source:[19][20] | |||||
| District | Total | Hillary Clinton | Bernie Sanders | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Delegates | Votes | % | Delegates | Votes | % | Delegates | |
| 1st district | 63,863 | 6 | 35,445 | 55.5% | 3 | 26,267 | 41.1% | 3 |
| 2nd district | 78,237 | 8 | 42,797 | 54.7% | 4 | 33,891 | 43.3% | 4 |
| 3rd district | 51,520 | 5 | 30,298 | 58.8% | 3 | 20,091 | 39.0% | 2 |
| 4th district | 37,273 | 4 | 20,662 | 55.4% | 2 | 15,289 | 41.0% | 2 |
| 5th district | 40,847 | 5 | 22,973 | 56.2% | 3 | 16,982 | 41.6% | 2 |
| 6th district | 50,465 | 6 | 29,266 | 58.0% | 4 | 20,259 | 40.1% | 2 |
| 7th district | 42,199 | 5 | 24,245 | 57.5% | 3 | 17,173 | 40.7% | 2 |
| 8th district | 46,491 | 5 | 27,672 | 59.5% | 3 | 17,651 | 38.0% | 2 |
| 9th district | 55,340 | 6 | 29,101 | 52.6% | 3 | 25,359 | 45.8% | 3 |
| At-large delegates | 466,235 | 16 | 262,459 | 56.3% | 9 | 192,962 | 41.4% | 7 |
| Pledged PLEOs | 466,235 | 9 | 262,459 | 56.3% | 5 | 192,962 | 41.4% | 4 |
| Total | 466,235 | 75 | 262,464 | 56.3% | 42 | 192,965 | 41.4% | 33 |
| County[23] | Clinton | % | Sanders | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apache | 4,450 | 66.4% | 1,933 | 28.8% |
| Cochise | 4,654 | 56.5% | 3,265 | 39.7% |
| Coconino | 5,738 | 44.1% | 6,941 | 53.4% |
| Gila | 2,196 | 59.2% | 1,305 | 35.2% |
| Graham | 937 | 49.1% | 851 | 44.6% |
| Greenlee | 497 | 54.6% | 325 | 35.7% |
| La Paz | 309 | 51.7% | 259 | 43.3% |
| Maricopa | 126,988 | 58.1% | 86,942 | 39.8% |
| Mohave | 4,170 | 56.4% | 2,847 | 38.5% |
| Navajo | 4,415 | 59.7% | 2,621 | 35.4% |
| Pima | 56,317 | 57.3% | 40,228 | 40.9% |
| Pinal | 9,771 | 62.1% | 5,414 | 34.4% |
| Santa Cruz | 2,496 | 65.8% | 1,205 | 31.8% |
| Yavapai | 8,401 | 52.9% | 7,108 | 44.7% |
| Yuma | 4,358 | 63.7% | 2,156 | 31.5% |
| Total | 262,459 | 56.3% | 192,962 | 41.4% |
A Clinton win in Arizona was expected; she had beatBarack Obama in the state eight years earlier by a similar wide margin, and she generally performed well with minority voters in the 2016 primaries. She won in counties with high populations ofHispanic voters, including the largest countyMaricopa where the capital city ofPhoenix is located, and she also performed well in counties with large populations ofNative Americans includingApache County andNavajo County. Sanders won only inCoconino County.[24]
Bernie Sanders made a late play for the state of Arizona, including airing Spanish-language ads featuring CongressmanRaúl Grijalva.[25] Hillary Clinton offset his efforts with advertising featuring former CongresswomanGabby Giffords,[25] and airing radio ads in theNavajo language.[26]
