USA TODAY: How a proof-of-citizenship voting rule may tilt a key swing state
BY MARY JO PITZL, USA TODAY — AUGUST 3, 2024
Court ruling blocks some Arizona voters, then doesn’t
In a July 1 motion to the 9th Circuit of Appeals, Arizona’s Republican legislative leaders, joined by the Republican National Committee, argued the GOP would suffer a competitive disadvantage if the state continued to register voters who attest they are citizens but don’t provide documents proving their status.
They argued the percentage of Republican voters registered as federal-only is disproportionately smaller than the percentage of GOP voters statewide, giving an advantage to Democrats.
In mid-July, they got a narrow win.
The 9th Circuit stayed an injunction that had blocked the requirement to show citizenship papers in some instances. That meant that going forward, anyone who registers to vote with a state-supplied form must produce citizenship papers or their application will be rejected. The matter was subject to appeal.
Within the first 10 days of the court’s stay, Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, had rejected about 200 state registration forms due to lack of documents proving citizenship.
State Senate President Warren Petersen, a Republican, hailed the court ruling, even though the court denied his request to block federal-only voters from voting by mail and to extend the document requirement to people who use the federal voter registration form.
“This is a victory for election integrity in Arizona,” he wrote on social media. “Only U.S. citizens should be allowed to vote in our elections.”
That victory was short lived. Two weeks after that ruling from a “motions panel” of the court, the 9th Circuit reversed course, lifted the stay and directed Arizona to revert to its two-track system, where people unable to produce citizenship documents can register to vote and cast ballots in federal elections.
Petersen promised an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. And he lambasted the court he had just praised, arguing its Aug. 1 order is “another example of why the radical 9th Circuit is the most overturned circuit in the country.”
Within the first 10 days of the court’s stay, Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, had rejected about 200 state registration forms due to lack of documents proving citizenship.
Timing is important. There’s usually an uptick in voter registration ahead of a presidential election said Ceridwen Cherry. She’s the legal director of VoteRiders, a nonprofit that helps people register to vote and navigate the often complex web of state requirements.
She worries the on-again, off-again requirements from the recent court rulings could deter people who want to register to vote.
“The current two-tiered registration system in Arizona is already extremely confusing, but the whiplash created by these back-to-back court rulings is likely to exacerbate that,” Cherry said. “If the Supreme Court were to change the registration requirements in Arizona yet again prior to the election, voter confusion is certain to increase even further.”
She said her organization will double down on registration efforts in the coming weeks.
“Our goal is to make sure that every Arizona voter has the documentation they need to be able to register and cast a ballot as a full ballot voter in all local, state and federal races in Arizona,” Cherry said.
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