A Federal Court Extends Arizona Deadline for, State Voters Missing a Signature on Their Mall Ballot to Cure the Error, until 5 Days After Election Day, Equally Rules for Signature Mismatches.

The Plaintiffs: the Arizona Democratic Party (“ADP”); the Democratic National Committee (“DNC”); and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (“DSCC”) seek to enjoin Arizona’s Election Officials from Rejecting Vote-by-Mail (“VBM”) Ballots in Unsigned Envelopes without Allowing Non-Signing Voters the same Five Days after Election Day to Correct their Omissions as Allowed to Voters whose Envelopes contain Perceived Mismatched Signatures and In-Person Voters without Proper Identification.

At Issue are Plaintiffs’ Motions for a Preliminary and Permanent Injunction.

Court Conclusion

On the facts of this case, Arizona’s Election-Day deadline for curing unsigned ballot envelopes imposes minimal but unjustifiable burdens on the right to vote and is an inadequate procedural safeguard, particularly for voters who return their ballots too close to Election Day to receive adequate pre-election notice of a missing signature and an opportunity to cure. Plaintiffs have succeeded on the merits of their claims and shown that the equities favor injunctive relief. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiffs’ motion to preclude certain opinions of Professor Atkeson (Doc. 101) is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART as explained in Part II of this order. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary and permanent injunction (Doc. 2) is GRANTED. Defendants, their respective agents, officers, employees, and successors, and all persons acting in concert with each or any of them, must allow voters who are determined to have submitted an early ballot (referred to
in this order as a VBM ballot) in an envelope without a signature the opportunity to correct the missing signature until 5:00 p.m. on the fifth business day after a primary, general or special election that includes a federal office or the third business day after any other election. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court shall enter judgment in favor Plaintiffs and against Defendants and terminate this case.
Dated this 10th day of September, 2020.










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