Judge says it would cause chaos so soon before the November election to change registrations
A federal judge refused to order Secretary of State Michele Reagan to immediately update voter registration addresses of 384,000 Arizonans who moved since the last election, reports Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times.
But Judge James Teilborg left the legal door open to eventually order Reagan – or whoever succeeds her – to finally bring the state into compliance with federal voting laws.
He acknowledged Wednesday that the current system operated by the Motor Vehicle Division for address changes for driver’s licenses requires people to affirmatively “opt-in” to also update their voter information. And the judge did not dispute that the National Voter Registration Act requires these forms to make registration changes automatic unless people opt out.
The result, according to the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups, is that many people will show up at the wrong polling place on Election Day.
Fischer reports Teilborg said it would cause chaos so soon before the November election to change all of those registrations. And he’s not convinced that leaving things as they are really will disenfranchise people. He said there is no evidence that anyone is unable to update his or her voter registration.
More to the point, Teilborg said there are more practical solutions to the problem than a wholesale reregistration of people.
At the heart of the issue is a federal law designed to make it easier for people to register to vote.
Teilborg said the challengers said they first became aware of the violations of federal law in November, 2017. Yet they waited until last month to seek an emergency order to revamp the registration process, less than three months before the general election.
The new ruling does not end the lawsuit but simply rejects a request to order Reagan to make the immediate fix.
