Multiple measures hit the courts in the battle over voting laws in Arizona
(KYMA, KECY/ AP News) - The Republican-controlled House has joined the GOP-led state Senate in approving a measure that will ask voters in November to drastically boost identification requirements needed for in-person and mail voting in the battleground state.
Arizona already has very strong voter id laws, but Republicans contend they leave room for fraud or illegal votes.
Democrats say the measure and many of the scores of election bills making their way through the legislature this year are efforts to suppress the vote.
Voters currently just sign their name and county officials compare that to signatures they have on file, but the ballot referral bill approved on Monday changes the popular vote-by-mail system by adding a requirement that voters include their date of birth and early voting number along with their signature on their return ballots.
It also limits the type of identification acceptable to prove identity when someone goes to the polls to vote in-person. And it removes the ability of an in-person voter who does not have their identification to show two documents, like a tax or water bill, to prove they are the person on the voter rolls.
Meanwhile, The Arizona Republican Party is asking the state Supreme Court to strike down the vote-by-mail system used by 90% of voters in a battleground state that will be crucial to determining which party controls the U.S. Senate after the 2022 election.
The lawsuit filed Friday argues absentee voting is unconstitutional and asks the justices to get rid of it or at least eliminate the no-excuse absentee balloting system Arizona adopted in 1991 and has steadily expanded ever since.
These part of several bills introduced in the Legislature aim to eliminate or severely restrict mail balloting, though some look unlikely to succeed due to opposition from one or more Republicans.
