The Republican National Committee has requested the Supreme Court to revive parts of an Arizona law that mandates documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration in the state. This includes provisions that would necessitate such documents for voting in the presidential election and for casting mail-in ballots.
This move by the Republicans aims to bring attention to an issue they intend to prioritize in the 2024 campaign, despite the lack of substantial evidence indicating non-citizen voting as a significant threat to elections.
Opponents of the requirement, including Democrats and voting rights advocates, argue that it is not only unnecessary but could potentially disenfranchise individuals who lack easy access to documents like birth certificates to prove their citizenship.
The Republicans are specifically seeking to reinstate parts of the law that mandate proof of citizenship for Arizona residents registering to vote using the state voter registration form. They are also pushing to reintroduce a requirement for proof of citizenship to vote in a presidential election.
The complexity of how Arizona structured the proof of citizenship requirement in the 2022 voter law seems to be designed, at least in part, to circumvent a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that placed restrictions on when states could impose such demands. This is especially relevant for individuals registering to vote using the federal registration form, which currently does not mandate documentary proof of citizenship.
In their plea to the Supreme Court, Republicans argued that the lower court's decisions to block the provisions in the Arizona law represented an unprecedented infringement on the state lawmakers' authority to establish voter qualifications and regulate election participation.
