9th Circuit to rehear Arizona voter law case en banc

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will rehear en banc a challenge to two Arizona election laws Democratic challengers say unconstitutionally target minority voters, setting up another high profile case that may further cement disagreements between the court's conservative and liberal wings.

In an order released Wednesday afternoon, the court said a majority of active judges had voted to revisit the 9th Circuit's September ruling in the case. It has upheld two laws, one governing the counting of improperly submitted ballots and another making it a crime for non-family members to deliver early ballots. DNC v. Reagan, 18-15845 (9th Cir. filed Apr. 15, 2016).

Arizona discards entirely, rather than counting votes for state-wide office, early ballots returned to the wrong precinct. Nearly 80 percent of Arizona residents vote early, according to court documents.

Four months ago, a divided three-judge panel upheld the restrictions as constitutionally permissible attempts to limit voter fraud.

Writing for a conservative majority, 9th Circuit Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta said the laws imposed minimal burdens on voters.

Chief Judge Sidney R. Thomas dissented, saying the precinct rule disproportionately affected minorities and the third party collection law did little but make it more difficult for the same voters to cast ballots. He called Arizona's voting system "labyrinthian."

The underlying issues in the case have divided the panel and other members of the 9th Circuit before. Eleven days before voters went to the polls in the 2016 presidential election, the same panel affirmed a district judge's decision to issue preliminary injunctions against the very same laws. Ikuta wrote for the majority. Thomas dissented.

An en banc call to rehear the case went out the same day and by Nov. 2, the court decided to rehear the appeal. Two days later, the en banc panel granted an injunction as the appeal proceeded, a decision which the U.S. Supreme Court summarily stayed the next day.

A similar series of events unfolded after an appeal from the denial of a preliminary injunction against the precinct voting rule, but a different en banc panel declined to grant the injunction as the en banc proceedings went forward.

The judges' votes split along traditional ideological lines.

Ultimately, both Arizona regulations were in effect during the 2016 presidential election.