In less than two weeks, Arizona will be holding its next primary election. However, several voting rights organizations are threatening the pre-election circumstances.
Three voting rights organizations have filed a lawsuit this past Saturday against the Arizona Secretary of State, Michele Reagan. The lawsuit entails accusations that federal voter rights have been violated. Under the National Voter Registration Act, also known as the Motor Voter Act, any time someone changes their address during a transaction with the state motor vehicle agency, that information is forwarded to elected officials in that state. Those officials must then update voter registrations with the new addresses that have been filed. The lawsuit alleges that this does not happen in Arizona.
An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project, Ceridwen Cherry, told KTAR News 92.3 FM that this update is not happening in Arizona, and because of this, up to 500,00 people may have not had their voter registration addresses updated, which is a violation of federal law. The American Civil Liberties is representing the League of Women Voters of Arizona, Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, and Promise Arizona in the lawsuit. The lawsuit was then filed in the U.S. District Court of Arizona. This lawsuit claims that the failure to update addresses could prevent many voters that are qualified from being able to vote in the upcoming primary election.
There are then two parts to the lawsuit.. The first part would simply require the secretary of state to count any votes cast in federal elections, regardless of whether their vote was cast at the previous or current polling location. The second was that the office was to mail notifications to anyone that was affected by this alleged violation. Reagan, however, says that the office is planning to reject this notion because she thinks it will confuse voters this close to the election. Sending out so many mailers, even if they are to notify the recipient to update their voter registration, and inform them where their correct polling place is, would only cause a mass misunderstanding. Cherry says that instead, voters can visit the secretary of state’s website, and inquire as to whether their voter registration is up to date.
Reagan also notes that there is no accurate statistic as to how many inaccurate voter registrations there could be, and rejecting the lawsuit helps to minimize confusion for voters as the election is right around the corner. Nevertheless, voters who return to their previous polling place will still be able to cast a valid vote, which is why Reagan is rejecting the lawsuit and believes that the mailings would be a move that would only confuse voters.
Reagan is currently up for re-election, and is closely competing with businessman Steve Gaynor in the Republican Primary, which takes place August 28th.
