DSCC and DCCC Move To Intervene in Arizona Case Challenging Voter Suppression Laws

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) moved to intervene in Mi Familia Vota v. Hobbs, a lawsuit challenging two recently enacted voter suppression laws in Arizona. Senate Bill 1485 purges voters from the state’s permanent early voter rolls if they do not vote by mail in two consecutive elections and Senate Bill 1003 changes the cure process for mail-in ballots, requiring ballots missing a signature to be cured by 7 p.m. on Election Day (despite the fact that mail-in ballots with inconsistent signatures can be cured up to five days after Election Day). The plaintiffs argue that these laws violate the First, 14th and 15th Amendments as well as Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by burdening the right to vote, particularly among voters of color in Arizona.

In filing their motion to intervene, the DSCC and DCCC seek to join the challenge against S.B. 1485 and S.B. 1003 in order to protect the right to vote and ensure that Democratic candidates and voters have the chance to fully participate in the democratic process. The party committees argue that these laws are intended to make it more difficult for voters of color to cast a ballot and that the Arizona “Legislature was fully aware of the likely and anticipated impacts these laws would have on the State’s voter of color; indeed, legislators pushed them through in the face of substantial objections that these laws would have a devastating impact on the right to vote in Latinx and Native American communities in particular.” The motion points out that the Republican National Committee and National Republican Senatorial Committee have already filed a motion to intervene in the case in order to defend the voter suppression laws under the guise of protecting Republican voters’ and candidates’ interests. 

The DSCC is currently litigating a similarly restrictive Arizona law that imposes an inconsistent cure process for correcting missing signatures; the case is before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals awaiting a decision.

Read the motion to intervene here.

Learn more about the case here.