Republican-backed voting curbs set for U.S. Supreme Court scrutiny
FEBRUARY 24, 20215:05 AM UPDATED 3 MINUTES AGO
By Andrew Chung
6 MIN READ
(Reuters) - Fresh off an election in which former President Donald Trump made false claims of fraud, the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to ponder the legality of a restriction on early voting in Arizona that his fellow Republicans argued was needed to combat fraud.
The Republican-backed law, spurred in part by a video purportedly showing voter fraud that courts later deemed misleading, made it a crime to provide another persons completed early ballot to election officials, with the exception of family members or caregivers.
Community activists sometimes engage in ballot collection to facilitate voting and increase voter turnout. Ballot collection is legal in most states, with varying limitations. Republican critics call the practice ballot harvesting.
Supreme Court arguments over the 2016 ban and another Arizona voting restriction - both ruled unlawful by a lower court - are scheduled for next Tuesday, with a decision due by the end of June. A broad ruling by high court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, endorsing the restrictions could further weaken the Voting Rights Act, a landmark 1965 federal law that barred racial discrimination in voting, by making it harder to prove violations.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-ballots/republican-backed-voting-curbs-set-for-u-s-supreme-court-scrutiny-idUSKBN2AO18L