9th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds AZ ballot harvesting law

Within short order after the Arizona legislature passed HB 2023 halting the practice of “ballot harvesting,” Gov. Doug Ducey signed it into law. Like clockwork, challenges followed  It eventually made its way to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

It was in that reliably left-leaning court that a divided three judge judicial panel on Friday surprisingly voted to uphold the Arizona law, with one judge dissenting.

Justia’s Opinion Summary can be read here.

 Referencing  Arizona’s law, Judge Sandra Ikuta wrote in the 58-page opinion, “Laws like this can strengthen public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process which encourages citizen participation in the democratic process.”

She’s exactly right.

 Chief Judge Sidney Thomas’ long-winded dissent, beginning after the majority affirmation on page 58, is filled with the expected leftwing blather claiming Arizona’s law disenfranchises multitudes of voters, among them minorities, the poor, and the infirm. According to his reasoning, these citizens which he has singled out, have no right to expect an elective system based on ballot integrity.