34
BRNOVICH v. DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE
Opinion of the Court
evidence of fraudulent mail-in ballots. 20 The Arizona Legislature was not obligated to wait for something similar to
happen closer to home. 21
As with the out-of-precinct policy, the modest evidence of
racially disparate burdens caused by HB 2023, in light of
the State’s justifications, leads us to the conclusion that the
law does not violate §2 of the VRA.
V
We also granted certiorari to review whether the Court of
Appeals erred in concluding that HB 2023 was enacted with
a discriminatory purpose. The District Court found that it
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20 See Blinder, Election Fraud in North Carolina Leads to New Charges
for Republican Operative, N. Y. Times, July 30, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/us/mccrae-dowless-indictment.html;
Graham,
North Carolina Had No Choice, The Atlantic, Feb. 22, 2019,
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/02/north-carolina-9thfraud-board-orders-new-election/583369/.
21 The dissent’s primary argument regarding HB 2023 concerns its effect on Native Americans who live on remote reservations. The dissent
notes that many of these voters do not receive mail delivery at home, that
the nearest post office may be some distance from their homes, and that
they may not have automobiles. Post, at 36. We do not dismiss these
problems, but for a number of reasons, they do not provide a basis for
invalidating HB 2023. The burdens that fall on remote communities are
mitigated by the long period of time prior to an election during which a
vote may be cast either in person or by mail and by the legality of having
a ballot picked up and mailed by family or household members. And in
this suit, no individual voter testified that HB 2023 would make it significantly more difficult for him or her to vote. 329 F. Supp. 3d, at 871.
Moreover, the Postal Service is required by law to “provide a maximum
degree of effective and regular postal services to rural areas, communities, and small towns where post offices are not self-sustaining.” 39
U. S. C. §101(b); see also §403(b)(3). Small post offices may not be closed
“solely for operating at a deficit,” §101(b), and any decision to close or
consolidate a post office may be appealed to the Postal Regulatory Commission, see §404(d)(5). An alleged failure by the Postal Service to comply with its statutory obligations in a particular location does not in itself
provide a ground for overturning a voting rule that applies throughout
an entire State.
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