Arizona’s proof of citizenship makes voting harder in US swing state

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to expand citizenship checks for Arizona voters couldn’t have come at a worse time, according to Kyle Nitschke.

While the executive director of the advocacy group Arizona Student Union was registering college students to vote, the court on Aug. 22 granted the Republican National Committee’s request to reject state registration forms if voters fail to provide proof of citizenship.

This was also in the middle of the welcome week for university students. “I mean, it was ridiculous timing,” he said.

The court’s decision is the latest measure to make voting more difficult in Arizona, the only U.S. state that requires proof of citizenship to vote in local and state elections.

Critics argue that this imposes “discriminatory burdens” on naturalized U.S. citizens as well as voters whose citizenship documents are most difficult to obtain.

“The whole point. . . “This is making it harder for people to vote,” said Mark Kelly, a Democratic U.S. senator from Arizona. “Anytime they can put any obstacle in front of a potential voter, it often benefits the people who are behind those efforts.”

The decision, which comes just weeks before the registration deadline, has thrown a critical swing state’s voter registration system into uncertainty in the tight presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

New voters and minority groups have the power to swing Arizona, where Biden defeated Trump by just 10,457 votes in 2020.

“We’re having a hard time figuring out how to implement this really confusing decision when we already have multiple layers of confusion because of these bad policies that are now law in Arizona,” said Adrian Fontes, Arizona’s Democratic secretary of state and official. responsible for elections.

Although it has long been illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal or state elections, and false citizenship claims are subject to criminal prosecution, academics and legal experts say violations of the rules are rare.

The citizenship requirement is included in Arizona’s voting law passed in 2022 but has not been fully implemented after being challenged by the Biden administration and voting rights groups. This claim is currently before the appeals court.

The bill was sponsored by Republican Arizona senator Jake Hoffman, who was accused of being a “fake voter” for allegedly trying to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. He pleaded not guilty.

Advocates of the law say it is necessary to ensure election integrity. “We want to protect the sanctity of gaming,” Warren Petersen, the Republican leader of the Arizona Senate, told the FT, arguing that the law only “tightens” existing state rules.

“This is ridiculous. . . “To expect us not to need ID for something as sacred as voting,” he added.

John Matthews, president of the Republican club in Sun City, a retirement community in Phoenix, argued at a recent meeting that it doesn’t matter that some voters find the voting requirements complicated.

“You have a responsibility. “Go get your birth certificate,” said the 71-year-old former Air Force member.

“That doesn’t mean you’re going to get away with the law because there are a small number of people who don’t want to do that.”

But critics accuse Republicans in Arizona of trying to disenfranchise young voters or minorities like Latinos and Native Americans — groups that have historically skewed Democrats.

César Fierros, a spokesman for Living United for Change in Arizona, an advocacy group that sued to block the voting law, argued that the measure’s purpose “is to discourage people from registering in the first place, especially first-time Latino or Hispanic voters.” -speaking US citizens.

Nearly a quarter of Arizona voters in this year’s election are expected to be Latino, according to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.

Because they are the youngest ethnic or racial group in the state and the high number of naturalized citizens, any change in registration rules is likely to have a huge impact on them.

But some Latinos support citizenship checks. At a recent Trump campaign event in Phoenix, 62-year-old Trump supporter Alex Moreno said there are people who “find loopholes to get around the system to get (fake) documents. . . . It’s not fair to the person standing in line.”

Those attending Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebrations in the Fort Apache area, three hours east of Phoenix, said the 2022 law is part of a long-running effort to exclude Native Americans from voting.

Indigenous people make up about 6 percent of the population population of arizonaA significant share was achieved by a narrow margin in the presidential elections.

“It’s creating organized chaos when some people in the legislature don’t want us to vote,” said Jaynie Parrish, founder of the advocacy group Arizona Native Vote.

Voting access was not easy.

The remoteness of tribal lands makes it difficult to get to polling stations, while high rates of homelessness or nontraditional forms of address make it difficult to register or receive ballots by mail.

Because seniors sometimes give birth at home, they may not have birth certificates or may have documents with conflicting birth dates.

“There’s a lot of disconnect in trying to fulfill requirements that we have no say in,” said Eileen Crocker, student program coordinator for the White Mountain Apache tribe.

Crocker himself was among some registered voters who discovered their status had been changed to “inactive.” “I have no idea what happened,” said the 51-year-old, who has been voting since she was 18. “It was a little disheartening . . . (and) eye-opening for me.”

The debate was further fueled last month when the state discovered that nearly 218,000 registered voters were missing documented citizenship; Fontes said a 20-year-old computer glitch affected Republicans more than Democrats. He is “very confident” the final amount will be lower once all checks are completed.

The Arizona supreme court ruled that these voters had full voting rights. Otherwise, it was stated, “voters would be massively disenfranchised.”

The Arizona law is part of a broader effort by Republican state legislatures and conservative groups to impose proof of citizenship requirements across the United States.

The New Hampshire statute, which will take effect after the general election, includes citizenship checks for first-time voters and eliminates the use of affidavits that would allow people without proper documentation to vote at the ballot box.

Many US states will ask voters in the 2024 elections to approve constitutional amendments that would ban non-citizens from voting.

Trump allies have also filed a series of lawsuits claiming that non-citizen voting could affect the outcome of the 2024 election. America First Legal, led by Trump’s former senior counsel Stephen Miller, has filed several lawsuits in Arizona. Fontes’ office declined to comment.

Critics argue the moves undermine faith in the election and allow Trump, who faces two indictments accusing him of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election, to challenge the outcome of the 2024 race in the event of defeat.

Travis Crum, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, warned that challenges can serve as “placeholders” that can be used to reverse outcomes.

Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

“I’m very concerned,” Kelly said. “Those behind trying to overturn the 2020 election are much better prepared this time.”