Attorney Asks Judge To Legalize "Ballot Harvesting" Before Arizona Primary

By Bridget Dowd
Capitol Media Services
Published: Saturday, August 11, 2018 - 11:05am
Updated: Sunday, August 12, 2018 - 8:10am
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Attorneys for a Democratic activist say there is a legal and constitutional right for her to deliver someone else's ballot to a polling place in lieu of using the U.S. Postal Service to do so on election day. Spencer Scharff has asked a federal judge to allow what's known as "ballot harvesting'' to become legal again in the state in time for the August primary.

He argues the 2016 Arizona law that forbade the practice is unconstitutional and interferes with his client’s First Amendment rights.

"The ballot represents the voter's speech," Scharff said. "When an individual delivers a ballot to the county recorder's office to be counted, they are helping to facilitate that speech."

 According to Capitol Media Services, the law was designed to keep groups from refusing to deliver ballots if they believed votes were not in line with their own political beliefs.