The Arizona Supreme Court ruled on Sunday against extending the deadline for voters to resolve issues with mail-in ballots. This decision comes in light of concerns raised by voter rights organizations regarding delays in vote counting and the communication with voters about signature mismatches on their ballots.
According to the court, officials in eight out of the state’s 15 counties confirmed that they had adequately notified voters with “inconsistent signatures” and provided them with the opportunity to address these discrepancies.
Arizona law mandates that individuals voting by mail must be informed of any issues regarding their ballot signatures that do not match those on file, allowing for a chance to correct such errors, a process commonly referred to as “curing.”
Justice Bill Montgomery, who presided over the case, stated that there was no evidence to substantiate claims that voters failed to receive “reasonable efforts” to correct their ballot issues. He also highlighted that none of the counties involved requested an extension of the deadline.
The court’s order declared, “In short, there is no evidence of disenfranchisement before the Court.” On Saturday, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Campaign Legal Center cited registrars including Stephen Richer in Maricopa County, the state’s largest, in a petition for an emergency extension of up to four days from the original 5 p.m. MST deadline on Sunday.
As of Friday evening, the groups reported that over 250,000 mail-in ballots remained unverified due to signature discrepancies, predominantly in Maricopa County. They argued that this situation put tens of thousands of voters at risk of disenfranchisement.
Justice Montgomery, who was appointed to the Arizona Supreme Court in 2019 by former Governor Doug Ducey, noted that the responding eight counties, including Maricopa, confirmed that all affected voters had received at least one phone call, in addition to other forms of communication such as emails and text messages.
However, it was also mentioned that the Navajo Nation informed the court that over 182 of its members in Apache County still required their ballots to be cured as of Saturday. Meanwhile, Maricopa County announced early on Sunday that approximately 202,000 ballots were still awaiting counting. The Arizona Secretary of State reported that over 3 million ballots were cast in total during this election.