On July 29th, Advancing Integrity reported that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of election integrity by upholding a new Arizona state law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.
Unfortunately, a 9th Circuit panel of 3 judges reversed the court’s ruling on Thursday, meaning that, as it currently stands, Arizona voters will not be required to provide proof of citizenship to register or vote in the November election. The order states: “As the district court held, the Decree requires the Secretary of State to direct County Recorders to accept state form registration applications submitted without documentary proof of citizenship … Because it requires County Recorders to reject such applications (and in fact criminalizes those who knowingly fail to do so), [the law] directly contravenes the requirements of the Decree.”
The original ruling was found to be in violation of the LULAC consent decree, which was enacted in 2018 and requires election officials to register voters without proof of registration. Texas entered into a similar consent decree with LULAC in 2019.
Although likely to be appealed, the ruling will henceforth embolden non-citizens to circumvent established law and cast ballots that will impact the lives of every single American citizen. With election day just around the corner, this is something that Arizona, and the nation, simply cannot afford.
Opponents of the Arizona law claim it is redundant, that it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections. Prosecution after the fact, however, does not undo the damage, especially when most district attorneys would not prosecute such a crime. Foreign nationals here illegally are obviously willing to break our laws and their votes cannot be identified and removed even if they are convicted. Americans do not want to leave their cars running with the doors open and just hope no one steals them.
Without state laws mandating proof of citizenship for voter registration, all that is required of registrants is an “attestation of citizenship;” this materializes as a mere statement, or checking a box on the federal form. If one is willing to illegally cross the southern border, and authorities are willing to let them come, then they are certainly also willing to lie on a form, and the same authorities are certainly willing to let them get away with it.
Advancing Integrity is dedicated to preserving security in Texas elections. We work to promote election integrity statewide and expose the many weaknesses of our current election systems. Help support our work at advancingintegrity.com/donate