The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official report] rejected [opinion, PDF] a challenge Wednesday to an Arizona election law. The Ninth circuit, in a 2-1 opinion turned down [NYT report] a legal challenge regarding thrown out ballots cast by voters who go to the wrong precinct. A federal judge had initially denied the challenge stating that there is a state interest since different races are in different ballots in different precincts. The court of appeals ultimately found, “that the precinct vote rule, as administered by Arizona, probably does not impermissibly burden minority voters by giving them less opportunity than non-minorities to participate in the political process.” There are currently two other election day challenges [AP report] by the Arizona Democrat party. A federal judge in Phoenix is considering a challenge to the state’s decision not to extend voter registration and a separate challenge has been made to prevent poll-watchers from participating on election day.

The right to vote has become a contentious issue as the presidential election approaches. This week the Supreme Court rejected [JURIST report] a vote counting appeal to block state election rules that they claimed could deiqualify certain absentee ballots. In October a New York law prohibiting a person from showing the contents of her prepared voting ballot was challenged as unconstitutional [JURIST report] by state voters for violating their First Amendment rights. The complaint alleges that the law infringes on voters’ freedom of speech and freedom of expression under the US Constitution as well as the New York state Constitution. Also in October a federal court denied an emergency motion [JURIST report] from North Carolina counties to extend the hours of early voting. In September a district court judge granted [JURIST report] a motion blocking Illinois from allowing voter registration on election day in the state’s most populated counties.