An Illinois AG who has introduced Hillary Clinton at rallies and is an open supporter has blocked a judge’s order to allow people who did not get to vote in the IL primary to vote late. An appellate court has granted the AG’s request for a stay of a previous judge’s order. The Herald-Whig reports:
The 4th District Appellate Court in Springfield has denied Adams County State's Attorney Jon Barnard's request to remove an order for stay that halted late voting.
In a brief email statement, Barnard said he will not pursue the case further, as it would take the process beyond the March 29 date in which election results must be certified.
USUncut writes:
In six counties across Illinois — Adams, Champaign, Effingham, Madison, Sangamon, and St. Clair — polling places ran out of ballots amid higher-than-expected voter turnout, meaning thousands of voters were sent home after waiting in line. On March 17, Adams County state attorney Jon Barnard went before Adams County circuit judge Chet Vahle to ask for an injunction that would grant those voters the ability to vote late due to ballot issues.
The next day, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, an ardent Hillary Clinton supporter who has introduced her at campaign rallies, filed an appeal in Illinois 4th District Appellate Court to prevent late voting. On March 23, the appellate court issued a stay on Judge Vahle’s injunction, meaning those voters won’t get a chance to cast ballots in this primary. ..
In a phone interview, Adams County State’s Attorney Jon Barnard said that had there been enough ballots available in those counties, the end result may have been a Sanders win, rather than a Clinton victory.
Meanwhile in Arizona a citizens group is filing a lawsuit to have disenfranchisement of possibly more than 100,000 voters, who could have changed the AZ primary result. The group’s website states:
1) Our preliminary forensics indicate that at least 150,000 voters in the state’s largest county, Maricopa, were disenfranchised by prohibitive wait times at the polls (in many cases reaching up to six hours), owing to a massive reduction in polling places.
Maricopa County had only 1/6 the number of polling places in this election as in the 2008 Presidential Preference Election, the last similar election when no incumbent was running. Many voters waited for most of a business day, but many others were forced to return to jobs or left for health or disability reasons, without being able to vote.
2) due to registration issues: despite having registered with the party of their choice, voters’ registrations were listed as invalid or featured the wrong party affiliation or no party affiliation, disqualifying them from receiving a ballot listing their candidate of choice.
And in Massachusetts, a lawsuit has been filed in Boston Federal Court alleging that Bill Clinton and Secretary of State William Galvin engaged in and allowed illegal campaigning by Clinton which could have skewed the primary result. NBC News reported:
The race in Massachusetts was neck and neck, with Sanders having led his rival at one point.
The lawsuit maintains:
"By the end of the day, Hillary Clinton had eked out a narrow victory by 1.4%, which represented about 16,800 votes,” write the plaintiffs. “The narrow victory in this closely watched race, deemed “critical” for each candidate, bolstered the Clinton candidacy in future primaries, making this a live and active issue to the present day.”
Polls in the days before the MA primary showed 8%, or approximately 100,000 voters, still undecided. The MA citizens’ group intends to show extensive photographic and video evidence that Bill Clinton was campaigning illegally within the 150 foot boundary outside polling stations declared off-limits to campaigning by MA law. In one instance an election official can be seen telling Sanders supporters to distance themselves from a polling station with their signs, but minutes later allowing Clinton to address the crowd and campaign even closer than where the Sanders supporters were standing (video below.)