The Supreme Court heard arguments this week about whether two Republican supported voting

laws in Arizona are constitutional.

One law requires that in-person election day voters cast their vote in their assigned

precinct.

And the other law prevents absentee ballots from being collected by anyone other than a

voter's relative or caregiver.

I don't think you can understand this case without understanding the geography of Arizona.

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez told MPR Nina Totenberg that

the law about absentee ballots will have a huge impact on Navajo nation voters.

It's very remote.

There is a lot of abject poverty.

Some people have to travel an hour or two to get a mailbox.

And so voting requires the active assistance of friends and neighbors.

But the court's conservative majority is unlikely to strike down the laws.

And its liberal justices have signaled that the conversation is much bigger than voter

access in rural Arizona.

A state has long had two weeks of early voting.

During Tuesday's hearing, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan posed some hypothetical scenarios

to Republican lawyer Michael Carvin.

Then the state decides that it's going to get rid of Sunday voting on those two weeks.

Black voters vote on Sunday ten times more than white voters.

Is that system equally open?

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