Ariz. Libertarian Party v. Bennett, No. 13-16254 (9th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseIn 2011, the Arizona Legislature enacted a new law requiring voter registration forms to list the two largest parties, as well as provide a blank line for “other party preferences.” See Ariz. Rev. Stat. 16-152(A)(5). The Arizona Green Party, the Arizona Libertarian Party, and three of their members (together, Plaintiffs) brought this action alleging that the new voter registration form violated their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments because the form failed to “treat equally the four parties with Statewide continuing ballot access.” The district court granted summary judgment for the State. A panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed, holding that Plaintiffs failed to meet their burden of establishing that section 16-152(A)(5) is not rationally related to a legitimate state interest.
Court Description: Civil Rights. The panel affirmed the district court’s summary judgment in an action brought by the Arizona Green Party, the Arizona Libertarian Party, and three of their members alleging that Arizona’s voter registration form violates their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. In 2011, the Arizona Legislature enacted a law requiring the voter registration form distributed by the Arizona Secretary of State to list the two largest parties (as measured by number of registered voters) on the form, as well as provide a blank line for “other party preferences.” See Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 16-152(A)(5). Prior to the 2011 amendment, Arizona law required only that voter registration forms include a blank space for the registrant’s party preference. The panel first determined that plaintiffs failed to adduce evidence that the revised registration form actually discourages or prevents voters from registering with minor parties. The panel held that at most, § 16-152(A)(5) imposes a de minimus burden on plaintiffs’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The panel then concluded that plaintiffs failed to meet their burden of demonstrating that § 16- 152(A)(5) is not rationally related to a legitimate state interest. The panel held that § 16-152(A)(5) helps to ensure that election officials will easily be able to determine the preferred party for most of Arizona’s voters in a manner that ARIZONA LIBERTARIAN PARTY V. BENNETT 3 the State has deemed to be cost efficient and less prone to clerical error. Concurring, Judge McKeown agreed that Arizona’s voter registration form passes constitutional muster. She wrote separately because she believes the rational basis review and burden-shifting standards articulated in Libertarian Party of Washington v. Munro, 31 F.3d 759 (9th Cir. 1994), and applied by the panel in this case, are inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s approach to analyzing voting rights challenges.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.