Arizona judge rejects GOP effort to eliminate no-excuse mail-in voting

KINGMAN, Ariz. (CN) — A Mohave County Superior Court judge Monday denied efforts by the Arizona Republican Party to block most mail-in voting in the state, rejecting claims that the 30-year-old voting option is unconstitutional.

In a 51-page complaint filed in May, the Arizona Republican Party and its chairwoman Kelli Ward claimed no-excuse mail-in voting violated and exceeded the scope of the state Constitution.

“Mail-in voting does not occur at a specific place designated by county boards or a place with a sufficient number of voting booths, regardless of where mail-in votes are actually tallied, and wait times and electioneering are irrelevant at one’s own home,” the lawsuit claimed. “Because no-excuse mail-in voting is not exercised at the polls, it is unconstitutional under the plain meaning of the language in the Arizona Constitution.”

Ward and the party also claimed that the period allowed to electors to cast their ballots has expanded in recent years, to 27 days before an election.

“If the constitution allows the definition of election day to be stretched so far, is there a limiting principle? Or may the legislature constitutionally authorize mailing and counting of ballots for the next general election to begin the day after the last election?” the complaint posed. “The simple answer is that early voting, in its present form, violates the Arizona Constitution.”

Mohave County Judge Lee Jantzen found the take myopic, acknowledging elections are living much like the Arizona Constitution.

“There is nothing in the Arizona Constitution which expressly prohibits the legislature from authoring new voting laws, including ‘no-excuse’ mail-in ballots,” Jantzen found Monday.

He cited the state’s long history of mail-in voting, which began in 1918 when the Arizona Legislature passed a law affording mail-in voting to those who could not vote in person, like military members. In 1991, Arizona lawmakers approved no-excuse mail-in voting into law.

“The laws are far from perfect and nobody anticipated thirty years ago that approximately 90 percent of Arizona voters would vote by mail-in ballot during a pandemic, but these laws are not in violation of the Arizona Constitution,” Jantzen wrote. “They are not inapposite of the intentions of the framers of the Constitution who emphasized the right to suffrage for Arizona citizens and that the voters’ ballots be secret. The laws passed by the Arizona legislature in 1991 further those goals.”

Jantzen also rejected concerns that bad actors violating the privacy of mail-in voting illustrate a constitutional problem before the court.

“Plaintiffs show examples of bad actors violating no-excuse mail-in voting laws,” Jantzen wrote. “These examples are concerning but they do not address the issue before the Court: the constitutionality of the statutes in question.”

The Arizona Democratic Party applauded Jantzen’s decision.

"Arizona Democrats defended democracy and won, striking down the AZ GOP's shameful, embarrassing, and unconstitutional effort to try and end early voting in our state,” said Raquel Terán, chair of the Arizona Democratic Party, in a statement. “To the 89% of AZ voters who vote early, we are with you, and we will never stop defending your right to cast your ballot in Arizona’s long-standing safe, secure, and trusted electoral system.” 

The Arizona Republican Party initially filed the lawsuit before the Arizona Supreme Court in February, but it found it lacked jurisdiction and declined to take up the matter.

Courthouse News reached out to the Arizona Republican Party but did not receive comments by press time.

Follow @themikemcdaniel

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