By Nick Arama | Jul 01, 2021 11:00 AM ET Share Tweet
The Supreme Court just delivered a big win to the Republicans in an Arizona voting rights case.
The 6-3 decision was written by Justice Samuel Alito. Justices John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett joined in the majority with Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Breyer in the dissent, which was written by Kagan.
What it boils down to is the Court upheld the state’s ability to prohibit third-party collection of mail-in ballots, otherwise known as “ballot harvesting” and said that the state can also disallow votes cast in the wrong precinct.
That’s a huge blow against the Democrats because of how they have utilized ballot harvesting. Many believe that they are able to use it, perhaps questionably, to change the nature of elections. Republicans have been fighting against it for some time to make elections more secure.
Democrats had tried to argue that the restrictions disallowing votes in the wrong precinct were somehow racially discriminatory. The court rejected that argument and it’s a good thing. The very argument is itself racist — to suggest that somehow people of color don’t know what precinct to vote in.
The decision reversed the ruling of the Court of Appeals and the cases are remanded for further proceedings.
This decision will have further impact on the election laws recently passed and under consideration in many states for election security. Democrats have falsely cast these laws with similar security provisions as “racist.” This decision drops a hammer on those claims, at least in regard to ballot harvesting and out-of-precinct votes.
But it’s also a good indication of how SCOTUS may rule in the future on similar cases and that’s good news for the Republicans and preservation of elections and the vote of all Americans.