Brnovich Files Stay With Ninth Circuit To Prevent Ballot Harvesting

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PHOENIX – Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office is seeking a stay in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals involving its recent decision regarding ballot harvesting and out-of-precinct voting. Brnovich is requesting the stay while his office seeks Supreme Court review.

The Attorney General’s Office fears that if a stay is not granted, “confusion and chaos” could result in Arizona’s 2020 Presidential Preference Election (PPE).

The Ninth Circuit has not issued an injunction or final judgment, creating the possibility, according to the Attorney General’s Office, that the injunction or final judgment could be issued in the middle of the PPE, creating additional voter confusion.”

The first ballots for the PPE will have gone out by February 1, with additional ballots going out no later than February 19. Additional elections are scheduled for May 19, August 4, and November 3, 2020. The Attorney General’s argues a stay of the mandate will maintain status quo and allow the Supreme Court to review the case thus avoiding voter confusion in the midst of ongoing elections.

Related article: Phoenix Ballot Harvesters Endure Heat For CASE Cause

“It bears repeating that when this Court issued an injunction against A.R.S. § 16-1005(H), before the 2016 election, see Feldman v. Arizona Sec’y of State’s Office, 843 F.3d 366, 370 (9th Cir. Nov. 4, 2016), the Supreme Court stayed that injunction with remarkable speed: within 48 hours—over a weekend—without noted dissent.

“Since that time, the record has gotten far stronger for the State of Arizona. The State not only prevailed in a bench trial, but the well-publicized, absentee-vote scandal in North Carolina during the last national election cycle has proven that the risks of fraud that the Arizona Legislature was concerned about are not imagined, but real. The Act is thus on far stronger footing than in 2016. But, contrary to the Supreme Court’s unanimous, expeditious stay, and the findings of the district court to the contrary, this Court again holds that the Act violates the Voting Rights Act.

– Motion For Stay

Before the 2016 election, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the Ninth Circuit’s election-eve injunction against the enforcement of Arizona’s prohibition of ballot harvesting and out-of-precinct voting following a lawsuit filed by the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the Arizona Democratic Party. The State then prevailed at trial.

Arizona’s brief explains that the Ninth Circuit was wrong when it imposed an election-eve injunction against the enforcement of Arizona’s prohibition of ballot harvesting and out-of-precinct voting following a lawsuit filed by the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the Arizona Democratic Party.

The Attorney General’s brief cites the recent “ballot harvesting scandal in North Carolina during the last election cycle that ultimately led to an election being thrown out as proof that the Arizona Legislature’s concerns for potential voter fraud are not unfounded.”

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