Arizona Democrats drop suit in return for getting some early-voter info

Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez said party officials agreed to drop their suit asking for access to a real-time list of voters whose signatures on ballot envelopes do not match what is on file at county offices.

Party officials had argued that information is a public record. But a Maricopa County judge, in a ruling just a day earlier on an identical claim, said there was a legitimate reason not to divulge that information prior to Election Day.

Rodriguez offered instead to provide the party with the names of voters who forgot entirely to sign their ballot envelopes. She will do that before Election Day.

That last point is critical.

State law allows a voter with mismatched signatures to “cure” the problem by contacting county election officials up to five business days after the election and verifying that, despite the signature differences, they cast the ballot. There are various reasons a signature might change, including age and illness.

But anyone who failed to sign the envelope has only until 7 p.m. on Election Day to go to a county office and fix the problem.

Rodriguez, like Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes, had argued against providing a real-time list of names of those whose signatures did not match. Both are Democrats themselves.

They pointed out that county election officials already reach out to those voters — the ballot envelopes contain a phone number — to inform them of the problem and tell them what they need to do. Both said they feared the possibility of not just confusion but also mischief if multiple groups started calling these voters, each caller providing potentially misleading information.

But Rodriguez said it’s a slightly different situation with the 7 p.m. deadline for fixing ballots with no signatures. She said it makes sense to have political parties help track those people down ahead of that deadline.

A spokesman for the Arizona Republican Party said its attorneys will review the agreement reached between Rodriguez and the Democrats and decide whether to also seek the same list.