PHOENIX — Secretary of State Katie Hobbs is asking a federal judge to declare there’s nothing unconstitutional about requiring people to get their early ballots to county offices by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
In legal briefs filed Monday on her behalf, Hobbs said the two groups that sued over the deadline, Voto Latino and Priorities USA, have no legal standing to challenge the law.
She said they haven’t provided evidence that a member of their organizations — or anyone — has been harmed by the failure to count a vote because mail wasn’t delivered until after the deadline.
She said people have 27 days to get an early ballot back to county officials. And if they can’t get them in the mail on time, Hobbs said, they can always drop them off at polling places before or on Election Day.
Hobbs, a Democrat, also said Arizona provides more opportunities for voting than many other states. Those include the ability to cast an early ballot without having to provide any excuse.
Hobbs dismissed the idea that some voters are confused.
“The fact that all ballots must be received by election officials by Election Day is no secret,” said the filings by her attorney, Assistant Attorney General Kara Karlson. “State law requires that every ballot issued include printed instruction notifying voters that ballots must be delivered to the officer in change of elections by 7 p.m. on Election Day.” That information, Hobbs said, is provided in multiple languages as required by federal law.
The lawsuit filed in November contends the state has “no legitimate interest” in enforcing the deadline, particularly when the state is encouraging people to cast their ballots by mail.
Voto Latino and Priorities USA, through attorney Sarah Gonski, want U.S. District Court Judge Dominic Lanza to require counting of ballots postmarked by the 7 p.m. deadline and received within five business days afterwards.
Voto Latino is a nonprofit registering Latinos to vote and Priorities USA is a “nonprofit, voter-centric progressive advocacy and service organization,” Gonski said.
Gonski cited the 2016 presidential preference primary where more than 72,000 Republicans cast a ballot saying they wanted Marco Rubio to be the GOP nominee. Only thing was, he quit the race days before.
Gonski said it was the requirement to have ballots in by the 7 p.m. Election Day deadline that caused so many people to “waste their vote on a ghost candidate.”
Hobbs was unimpressed. “If voters want to wait until Election Day to see what happens until the campaign ends, they can do so,” she said. “But Arizona law gives them the option of voting earlier if they choose to do so. That choice, however, is not a burden on the voters.”
Nor was Hobbs swayed by the fact that mail delivery can be unpredictable, particularly in rural areas.
“Again, voters have choices, and they can weigh factors such as the unpredictability of mail delivery when deciding how and when to cast their ballot,” Hobbs said.
“For any mailed ballot, there needs to be a deadline for receipt, and somebody may miss it, just as someone may arrive to the polls too late on Election Day to cast a ballot.”
Hobbs did not respond to specific complaints by Gonski that the personal drop-off option can be “more time-consuming and burdensome” for rural voters who often live many miles from a drop-off location, as well as Hispanic and Latino voters whom she said have difficulty obtaining transportation or leaving work during the hours when county recorders’ offices are open.
