Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, Priorities USA and Voto Latino Win Challenge against 2 Provisions in Arizona Voter Suppression Law SB 1260

Just days after voter suppression law SB 1260 had taken effect, the groups scored a crucial courtroom win to protect Arizonans’ voting rights.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, Priorities USA and Voto Latino announced a significant victory in the groups’ recent legal challenge against Arizona’s SB 1260, a bill designed to suppress the vote. A federal judge temporarily blocked the law’s felony and registration cancellation provisions which unfairly limit voter registration and mobilization efforts and criminalize common voter behavior.

This ruling follows a legal challenge filed in August arguing that SB 1260 violates due process, the First and Fourteenth Amendments as well as the National Voter Registration Act. The judge’s ruling temporarily blocked the provision in SB 1260 that required canceling an individuals’ voter registration without notification. The judge also blocked the provision that makes it a felony to help out of state voters cast their mail-in ballots. The judge blocked these provisions on the grounds that they violate due process and the National Voter Registration Act.

In its original form, SB 1260 allowed election officials to purge voters from Arizona’s vote-by-mail list, without notifying the voter, if the voter is registered in another county and criminalizes providing voting assistance to those registered in a different state. The law disproportionately creates barriers to vote for young voters, college students, older voters, transient voters who are more likely to be low-income and people of color. SB 1260 also permits third parties to provide county recorders with “credible information” on voters registered in other countries, opening the door to targeted voter suppression and monitoring of marginalized groups.

“This is a major victory in our effort to protect the right to vote and we’re proud that our challenge delivered real results for Arizona voters,” said Aneesa McMillan, Deputy Executive Director of Priorities USA. “It is critical that Priorities is on the front lines of fighting these voter suppression efforts in the courts as Republican voter suppression efforts continue to proliferate across the country. While right-wing groups find new ways to try to limit the voting rights of marginalized groups, Priorities will continue to fight in the courts and deliver relief for all voters.”

“SB 1260 is a perfect example of Republicans seeking to enable mass disenfranchisement of voters,” said Maria Teresa Kumar, President and CEO of Voto Latino. “Our victory only fuels the fire to continue fighting in the courts to end the wave of voter suppression laws that are being implemented across the country. Pieces of legislation, like this one, disproportionately affect communities of color as they’re starting to demonstrate more of a significant impact in elections. This is a major step in the right direction of allowing underrepresented demographics to exercise their political rights.”

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Voto Latino is a grassroots political organization focused on educating and empowering a new generation of Latinx voters, as well as creating a more robust and inclusive democracy. Through innovative digital campaigns, culturally relevant programs and authentic voices, we shepherd the Latinx community towards the full realization of its political power.