UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

DAVID ISABEL, individually and on No. 19-17397 behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. 2:18-cv-03217- v. DWL MICHELE REAGAN, in her individual capacity; COUNTY OF MARICOPA; OPINION ADRIAN FONTES, in his official capacity as Maricopa County Recorder, Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona Dominic Lanza, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted November 20, 2020 Phoenix, Arizona

Filed February 11, 2021

Before: Jay S. Bybee, Mary H. Murguia, and Bridget S. Bade, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Murguia 2 ISABEL V. REAGAN

SUMMARY *

Civil Rights

The panel affirmed the district court’s dismissal, for failure to state a claim, of an action brought by an Arizona voter seeking to remedy Appellees’ failure to count his vote in the 2016 November General Election.

Arizona law in effect in 2016 set the voter registration deadline for the 2016 November General Election on Monday, October 10, 2016. But because Monday, October 10, 2016 was also Columbus Day, a state and federal holiday, certain methods of voter registration were not available on that day. Plaintiff, along with roughly 2,000 others, registered to vote on Tuesday, October 11, 2016. His cast ballot, however, was not counted because officials in the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office determined that plaintiff was not an eligible voter due to his failure to register by the October 10, 2016 deadline, as set forth in Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 16-120.

The panel held that based on the specific facts of this case, the Arizona statute in effect at the time, and the plain language of the National Voter Registration Act (“NVRA”), plaintiff failed to timely register to vote and was therefore not eligible to vote in the 2016 November General Election. This conclusion alone precluded both plaintiff’s claim under Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, which secures the right to vote for qualified voters, and his claim under Section

* This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader. ISABEL V. REAGAN 3 8 of the NVRA, which ensures voter eligibility for persons who timely register. Accordingly, the panel declined to address whether plaintiff adequately alleged a deprivation of his right to vote that warranted money damages or whether violations of the NVRA could be remedied under § 1983. The panel noted that this rigid result was not likely to reoccur under Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 16-120, as amended in 2017, which directly addressed the circumstances presented in this case.

COUNSEL Spencer G. Scharff (argued), Scharff PLLC, Phoenix, Arizona; Nathan Fidel, Miller Pitt Feldman & McAnally P.C., Phoenix, Arizona; Scott Caplan, Law Office of Scott Caplan P.C., Long Island City, New York; for Plaintiff- Appellant. Timothy A. La Sota (argued), Law Office of Timothy A. La Sota PLC, Phoenix, Arizona, for Defendant-Appellee Michele Reagan. Joseph J. Branco (argued), Joseph La Rue, and Talia Offord, Deputy County Attorneys; Allister Adel, County Attorney; Civil Services Division, County Attorney’s Office, Phoenix, Arizona, for Defendants-Appellees County of Maricopa and Adrian Fontes. 4 ISABEL V. REAGAN

OPINION MURGUIA, Circuit Judge:

This case turns on whether Arizona residents who registered to vote on October 11, 2016, registered to vote in time to be eligible to vote in the 2016 November General Electio