Justices likely to keep voting restrictions

The Supreme Court appeared ready Tuesday to uphold voting restrictions in Arizona in a key case that could make it harder to challenge a raft of other voting measures Republicans have proposed following last year’s elections.

All six conservative justices, appointed by Republican presidents, suggested they would throw out an appellate ruling that struck down the restrictions as racially discriminatory under the landmark Voting Rights Act. The three liberal members of the court, appointed by Democrats, were more sympathetic to the challengers.

The Arizona provisions under review were in place for last year’s voting.

They are a 2016 law that limits who can return early ballots for another person and a separate policy of discarding ballots cast in the wrong precinct.

Both parties used ballot collection in Arizona to boost turnout by going door to door and asking voters if they had completed their mail-in ballots. Volunteers offered to take the ballots to election offices.

Republicans who control the legislature made a crime of ballot collection, dubbed ballot harvesting by opponents.

The outcome could make it harder to use the Voting Rights Act to sue over legislation that creates obstacles to voting.