It took Arizona Republican Governor Doug Ducey just one hour after the state Senate passed a major voter suppression bill for him to sign it into law.
SB1485, according to voting experts, will purge 140,000 Arizona voters from the permanent list of people who are sent a mail-in ballot. 80% of Arizona’s voters choose to vote by mail. The state has had voting by mail for over two decades.
The new law changes the Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL) “to a new name: the ‘Active Early Voting List,’ which would require voters to vote early at least once over two election cycles (four years) in order to stay on it,” Democracy Docket explains. “Otherwise, their names will be purged from the list and they will stop receiving automatic mail ballots.”
Democrats “are concerned the new law would disproportionately disenfranchise voters of color, young people and other historically marginalized groups who rely on receiving automatic mail ballots in order to have their voices heard.”