The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging an Arizona law that requires voters in presidential elections to prove citizenship, setting up a fight over a provision similar to one the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in 2013. State Republicans, who voted for the new measure in March on a party-line vote, said the law was a safeguard against voter fraud, which supporters of then-President Donald Trump falsely claimed was a factor in his loss of the state from President Biden in 2020 Arizona’s attorney general said in April that his office investigated allegations of voter fraud in the state’s largest county and found no evidence of widespread irregularities that would have affected the presidential election. Democrats denounced House Bill 2492 as another of the Democratic Party’s longstanding efforts to limit voting and make it harder for some residents, including naturalized immigrants, to vote. The bill requires voters to provide proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, passport or naturalization documents, on a federal voter registration form. It also requires county officials to cross-check voter registration rolls with citizenship records and exclude those not listed as citizens in the databases. Ginny Thomas pushed Arizona lawmakers to overturn Trump defeat, emails show Democrats and voting rights experts have said the safeguards are unnecessary given the absence of evidence that significant numbers of non-citizens are trying to participate in US elections. Critics of the law also say it could disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters, especially those who are poor, as they may not have easy access to proper documentation. Experts said such requirements had a discriminatory effect on communities of color and the poor. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark called the Arizona law, which is scheduled to take effect next year, a “textbook violation” of the National Voter Registration Act. “Arizona passed a law that turns back the clock on progress by imposing illegal and unnecessary requirements that would keep eligible voters off the registration rolls for certain federal elections,” he said. Justice Department officials said the law violates a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that rejected a similar attempt by Arizona to enact a proof-of-citizenship requirement. At the time, a majority of the court said the move violated federal laws that do not require such documentation. In the lawsuit, federal prosecutors said the federal voter registration form “already includes an affidavit of citizenship for a prospective voter, which Arizona continues to accept for in-person voting in congressional elections.” Whether a prospective voter is able to provide supporting documents, the lawsuit says, “is irrelevant to whether that voter is qualified to vote by mail or in a presidential election.” Analysis: Texas is quickly showing the impact restrictive voting laws can have Arizona Republicans have said the law is not unconstitutional, arguing that the 2013 Supreme Court ruling was about congressional elections and did not specifically mention presidential contests. However, the state legislature’s legal counsel warned lawmakers before the bill passed that it could be illegal. A spokesman for Gov. Doug Ducey (R) declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. When he signed the bill, he touted it as a tool to address the surge of new voters turning out, saying there were more than 13,000 active registered voters who hadn’t checked the box on the federal voter registration form certifying their citizenship. “Electoral integrity means counting every legal vote and prohibiting every attempt to cast an illegal vote,” Ducey wrote. The Arizona law’s sponsor, Rep. Jake Hoffman (R), did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Hoffman is a Trump supporter who was among 11 state GOP lawmakers who sent a letter on January 5, 2021, falsely claiming to be the state’s presidential electors. They asked then-Vice President Mike Pence not to admit electors from states won by Joe Biden during the congressional vote scheduled for the next day – the day a mob of Trump supporters left a rally headlined by the then-president and breached the Capitol. Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) said in a written statement that he looks forward to defending Arizona’s election law in court. He characterized the Justice Department’s lawsuit as an effort to give undocumented immigrants “an opportunity to vote.” Trump campaign documents show advisers knew fake election plan was unfounded A statement issued by Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D), who oversees elections in the state, made clear her opposition to the bill since its introduction. In a March 24 letter asking Ducey to veto the measure, Hobbs wrote that it would create obstacles for voters, violate “clearly established federal law” and lead to costly litigation. The fight over the measure comes as Arizona voters prepare to vote early in a series of Republican-designated races with lingering questions about the 2020 election and promises to crack down on potential fraud in the future. In a recent campaign east of Phoenix, a GOP Senate candidate also called for new voter ID requirements, echoing Ducey’s concern about the thousands of people who fail to fill out the citizenship box on federal voter registration forms. “All you do is check a box that says, I am a citizen of the United States, I swear,” Blake Masters told a crowd. “And this is. No one ever checks it.” Wingett Sanchez reported from Phoenix.
