Supreme Court Upholds Arizona Voting Restrictions – By Claire Hansen (US News) / July 1 2021
The ruling, which was split along ideological lines, overturns a lower court ruling finding that the provisions had a racially discriminatory effect.
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a pair of Arizona voting provisions, ruling that they did not violate a section in the Voting Rights Act that bars laws that have a racially discriminatory effect.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the opinion for the 6-3 majority. The court was divided along ideological lines, with liberal Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer dissenting. The decision reverses a lower court’s ruling finding that the regulations discriminated against minority voters.
The cases were the court’s first concerning the provision in the Voting Rights Act that prohibits discriminatory laws, and it comes as Republican state legislatures across the country seek to impose restrictions on voting.
The cases centered on two voting provisions that are common in other states as well. The first throws out ballots that are cast in the wrong precinct, while the other prohibits third parties from collecting early or mail-in ballots and delivering them to polling places, with few exceptions for family members, election officials and caregivers.
