Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee

141 S.Ct. 2321 (2021)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Congress enacted the VRA in an effort to achieve at long last what the Fifteenth Amendment had sought to bring about 95 years earlier: an end to the denial of the right to vote based on race. The Act and its amendments in the 1970s specifically forbade some of the practices that had been used to suppress black voting. “The essence of a §2 claim is that a certain electoral law, practice, or structure interacts with social and historical conditions to cause an inequality in the opportunities” of minority and non-minority voters to elect their preferred representatives.' All Arizonans may vote by mail for 27 days before an election using an “early ballot.” No special excuse is needed and any voter may ask to be sent an early ballot automatically in future elections. In addition, during the 27 days before an election, Arizonans may vote in person at an early voting location in each county. Each county is free to conduct election-day voting either by using the traditional precinct model or by setting up “voting centers.” Voting centers are equipped to provide all voters in a county with the appropriate ballot for the precinct in which they are registered, and this allows voters in the county to use whichever vote center they prefer. Voters who choose to vote in person on election day in a county that uses the precinct system must vote in their assigned precincts. If a voter goes to the wrong polling place, poll workers are trained to direct the voter to the right location. If a voter finds that his or her name does not appear on the register at what the voter believes is the right precinct, the voter ordinarily may cast a provisional ballot. That ballot is later counted if the voter’s address is determined to be within the precinct. But if it turns out that the voter cast a ballot at the wrong precinct, that vote is not counted. In 2016, the state legislature enacted House Bill 2023 (HB 2023), which makes it a crime for any person other than a postal worker, an elections official, or a voter’s caregiver, family member, or household member to knowingly collect an early ballot-either before or after it has been completed. The Democratic National Committee and certain affiliates (Ps) brought this suit claiming that both the State’s refusal to count ballots cast in the wrong precinct and its ballot-collection restriction “adversely and disparately affect Arizona’s American Indian, Hispanic, and African American citizens,” in violation of §2 of the VRA. Ps alleged that the ballot-collection restriction was “enacted with discriminatory intent” and thus violated both §2 of the VRA and the Fifteenth Amendment. The District Court made extensive findings of fact and rejected all Ps’ claims. A divided panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed, but an en banc court reversed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.