PHOENIX (AP) — A federal court has ruled that a 2016 Arizona law that bars anyone but a family member or caregiver from returning early ballots for someone else violates the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution.
Monday's ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also found that Arizona's policy of discarding ballots if a voter went to the wrong precinct violates the law.
Judge William A. Fletcher concluded that the practice of tossing ballots voted in the wrong precinct has a discriminatory effect on American Indian, Hispanic and African American voters in Arizona.
Republicans who backed the law said it was a common-sense way to prevent fraud.
