SCOTUS allows Arizona ballot collection ban to stand


The Supreme Court on Saturday ruled that an Arizona ban on independent ballot collection may continue.
Some Arizonans — particularly those who live in border towns or on Native American reservations where postal service is inconsistent — have relied on ballot collectors to transport their mail-in votes to polling locations in time. Arizona made such third-party transport (except by family members and caregivers) a felony punishable by up to a year in jail and a $150,000 fine, a move Democrats say will in practice disenfranchise thousands of voters in rural and/or minority communities.
Supporters of the law say it is necessary for ballot security, arguing it "will not actually have a discriminatory impact or anything more than a minimal burden on the right to vote." The SCOTUS decision overturns a Friday ruling from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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