Arizona Can Ban ‘Ballot Harvesting,’ Supreme Court Says

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court issued an order on Saturday allowing Arizona to enforce a law banning so-called ballot harvesting, in which others collect voters’ completed absentee ballots and submit them to election officials. The court’s two-sentence order stayed a ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that would have temporarily blocked the law.

The justices gave no reasons for reviving the law, but the court often views last-minute changes to election procedures with disfavor.

Arizona allows voters to submit absentee ballots by mail or in person. The challenged law, enacted this year, barred letting others collect the ballots, with exceptions for family members and caregivers. According to officials in Arizona, there are similar laws in 26 other states and nearly identical ones in “14 other states that make mass ballot collection in some form a felony.”