This Court Alert is published by Democracy Docket. Here is an excerpt:
Today, various voting rights groups filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona challenging two new voter suppression laws in Arizona. Mi Familia Vota, Arizona Coalition for Change, Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) and Chispa Arizona allege that Arizona is attempting to restrict the voices of marginalized groups and Arizonans of color, arguing that “it is no coincidence that the Arizona legislature enacted these changes only after an election in which (1) for the first time in recent memory, the presidential candidate preferred by Arizona voters of color won; and (2) voters of color increasingly used early voting—the target of the new laws—to exercise their right to vote.”
The lawsuit challenges two laws passed by Arizona’s Republican-controlled Legislature after the 2020 general election. Senate Bill 1485 purges voters from the state’s permanent early voter rolls if they do not vote by mail in two consecutive elections. Senate Bill 1003 changes the cure process for mail-in ballots, requiring ballots without a signature to be cured by 7:00 pm on Election Day (despite the fact that ballots with inconsistent signatures can be cured up to five days after Election Day). The plaintiffs allege that these laws violate the First, 14th and 15th Amendments as well as Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by burdening the right to vote, particularly among voters of color in Arizona. The complaint asks the court to prohibit the enforcement of these provisions.
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