Arizona Apache County Ballot Cure Deadline Extension Request

Navajo Nation v. Noble

Filed: November 12, 2024

Decided: November 19, 2024

Lawsuit filed by the Navajo Nation against the Apache County Board of Supervisors, Apache County Recorder Larry Noble and Apache County Elections Director Rita Vaughn seeking an additional three-day period for ballot curing.

Voters living on the Navajo Reservation face significant delays when receiving and delivering mail. As a result, Navajo voters rely on state and county resources to ensure that their mail-in ballots are timely received and accepted for counting. During the 2024 general election, the Arizona secretary of state’s office offered an online tracking system for voters to see whether their ballots had been received. After several Apache County voters expressed concerns that their mail-in ballots had not been marked as received on the website, the Navajo Nation filed public records requests to identify voters who may have had their ballots rejected for various errors. Despite receiving multiple requests, the county released a list of only a small portion of voters who had their ballots rejected, but never provided a complete list to the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation also claims that the county did not process any mail-in ballots from Nov. 6 to 8. As of Nov. 9, one day before Arizona’s statewide deadline for ballot curing, Apache County had still not processed over 900 ballots. This left many Navajo voters without either the time or information they needed to cure their mail-in ballots before the state’s Nov. 10 deadline.

The plaintiff argues that Apache County violated a state law that guarantees a voter’s right to a meaningful opportunity to cure a mail-in ballot. The plaintiff also argues that the county violated Navajo voters’ rights to due process and equal protection under the Arizona Constitution. The plaintiff asks the court to provide Apache County voters an additional three days to cure mail-in ballots.

The Navajo Nation filed their complaint on Nov. 12, 2024.

RESULT: On Nov. 19, 2024, the court dismissed the case, ruling Apache County made “reasonable efforts” to contact voters for ballot curing. The deadline to cure mail-in ballots was not extended.