DRAZ is pleased to announce that Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) has completed and published updated self-service form petitions for limited guardianship that include specific information about an individual’s right to petition the court to retain their voting rights, as well as accompanying instructions on that issue. Arizona law changed in 2012 to allow people who are under limited guardianship the ability to retain their right to vote, if they petition the court and the court finds that they retain sufficient understanding to exercise the right to vote. A.R.S. § 14-5304.02.
In 2017, DRAZ discovered that information about how a person can now retain their voting rights under limited guardianship was not widely available in the self-service guardianship information published by Arizona superior courts.
DRAZ sent letters to several Arizona superior courts and the AOC asking that they update their self-service form documents to reflect this important change in Arizona law. Numerous community partners joined DRAZ in support of the request, including Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, William E. Morris Institute for Justice, The Arc of Arizona, Raising Special Kids, Native American Disability Law Center, New Horizons Disability Law Center, DIRECT Center for Independence, Inc., Ability360, Community Legal Services, and Southern Arizona Legal Aid, Inc.
These materials are all now available on AOC’s website:
- Instructions, Petition and Order: Appointment of Guardian and/or Conservator for an Incapacitated Adult (English)
- Instrucciones, solicitud y orden para nombramiento de tutor o curador de un adulto (español)
At our request, AOC also developed and published a form petition to restore a ward’s right to vote, for individuals under limited guardianship who may have lost their voting rights previously and seek to have those rights restored:
- Instructions, Petition and Order: Restore the Ward’s Right to Vote in Limited Guardianship (English)
- Instrucciones, solicitud y orden para recuperar el derecho al voto del pupilo (español)
AOC sent a memorandum on July 30, 2019, to all Arizona presiding superior court judges and administrative court staff, urging “each court to review the probate forms available locally or on its website to ensure compliance with A.R.S. § 14-5304.02. Forms for the Petition, Healthcare Professional’s Report, Order of Appointment of a Guardianship of an Adult, Letters of Appointment, and corresponding instructions should be amended to reflect current law.”
DRAZ thanks AOC for its cooperation on this project, and our community partners for their support.
DRAZ has updated its Voting Under Limited Guardianship brochure and we encourage you to share the information contained in this post widely.
