By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times
The state and national Democratic parties are challenging a state law that denies some people the right to vote because they forgot to sign their mail-in ballots.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court here points out that state lawmakers last year agreed to require county election officials to give people five business days to “cure” their ballots if it appears that the signature on the envelope does not match what is on file.
But attorney Alexis Danneman said Arizona law does not offer a similar option for those who simply failed to sign the envelope.
“If not remedied by 7 p.m. on Election Day, their votes are simply not counted,” she wrote. “Voters who are in fact registered to vote, and who did in fact timely submit their mail ballots, will have their votes disregarded without due process.”
The issue, she said, is not academic.
