PHOENIX โ A federal judge refused late Thursday to order that people who registered to vote on Oct. 11 be allowed to cast a ballot in this election.
Judge Steven Logan acknowledged that the deadline set by Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan to register for the general election fell on Oct. 10 โ Columbus Day, both a state and federal holiday.
Arizona law says that when a deadline falls on a holiday, it is moved to the following day, Logan also acknowledged.
But the judge said he would not order Reagan to put the more than 2,000 people who signed up on Oct. 11 on the voter registration rolls.
Logan pointed out that the deadline, and the fact it fell on a holiday, had been known for months. But he said the Arizona Democratic Party did not file suit to challenge it until after the registration deadline โand only a few weeks before the general election is to take place.โ
โThis delay was unreasonable,โ the judge wrote. Logan said even if there were people who did not register on Oct. 10 because it fell on a holiday, that does not mean they were disenfranchised. The holiday deadline โmerely imposed a timeframe in which voters had to act in order to register to vote in the general election.โ
He said other methods were available on Oct. 10, registering online.
