Following an emergency application filed by the state of Arizona, the US Supreme Court [official website] issued an order [order] Saturday allowing Arizona’s “ballot harvesting” law to remain in effect, overturning a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] just one day prior. The Arizona law, HB 2023 [legislation, PDF], makes it a felony for any individual other than election officials, mail carriers, family members, or caregivers to collect early voting ballots. Arizona has touted this law as a necessary measure to prevent vote fraud. The state filed this emergency application to the Supreme Court following the Ninth Circuit’s en banc decision [order, PDF] to block HB 2023, asking the court to reverse the Ninth Circuit’s “unprecedented and unsustainable order.” In a brief filed in support of the ban, HB 2023’s opponents said it violated the Voting Rights Act and the First and Fourteenth Amendment. In particular, the challengers cited the state’s “long history of racial discrimination” and noted that ballot harvesting is one of the more frequent ways in which minority citizens vote in Arizona. The challengers contended the burdens of the ballot harvesting ban will fall disproportionately on the shoulders of minority voters. In addition, the challengers rejected Arizona’s claims that HB 2023 is necessary to prevent voter fraud, saying no evidence of any voter fraud has been presented and that “substantial security measures” are already in place to prevent against fraud.

The right to vote has become a contentious issue as the presidential election approaches. Last week the Supreme Court rejected [JURIST report] a vote counting appeal to block state election rules that they claimed could disqualify 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, a claim that was ultimately rejected. 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.