Judge considers stopping Arizona ballot drop box watchers
After a federal judge ordered the state to stop sending letters to voters stating they must drop their ballots from the ballot box if they receive them in person, the Arizona Republic points out that none of that is changing.
“None of it is changing. The only thing that is changing is their plan to enforce the law,” said Tim Zumwalt, spokesman for the Arizona Secretary of State. “And we are well within our authority to enforce the law to ensure a fair election.”
More from the Arizona Republic:
A federal judge ordered the state to stop sending letters to voters stating they must drop their ballots from the ballot box if they receive them in person, and gave the state until next week to figure out a means of doing so.
“I’m sorry, because we are going to work as quickly and diligently as we can with all the assistance that we can provide to correct the problem,” Zumwalt said.
The judge’s ruling, filed Aug. 29, comes in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU in federal court. In addition to stopping the letters, the judge said the state must use postmarked mail as a means of delivery for the ballots and not deliver them in person in the polling places.
“The state must do this with the assistance of the Elections Department, the elections judge overseeing this case, and all parties,” wrote U.S. District Judge David Campbell in the ruling. “It must be done in such a way as to have only a minimal delay in the ballot release and only with the assistance of those voting in person.”
In an interview with the Republic, Zumwalt said there are now two options for voters who are “in person.” The first is to cast a provisional ballot, which requires the voter to show photo identification, and the other is to drop the ballot from the ballot box to be cast. With either of those options, voters are then mailed the ballot.
“Those are the only two choices that are available,” he said.
In an interview Sunday, Arizonans United for the People’s Elections Committee,