The Republican National Committee has made a request to the Supreme Court to reinstate parts of an Arizona law that mandates documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration. This includes provisions that would necessitate such documents for voting in the presidential election and for casting mail-in ballots.
Despite the lack of substantial evidence indicating non-citizen voting as a significant threat to elections, Republicans aim to bring this issue to the forefront of the 2024 campaign.
Opponents of the requirement, including Democrats and voting rights advocates, argue that it could potentially disenfranchise individuals who lack easy access to documents like birth certificates to prove their citizenship.
The Arizona law in question was designed in a complex manner to work around a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that placed restrictions on states imposing such demands, especially for those using the federal registration form that currently does not mandate documentary proof of citizenship.
Republicans argue that the lower court's decisions blocking the provisions in the Arizona law infringe upon the state lawmakers' authority to determine voter qualifications and election participation structure.
The case, overseen by Justice Elena Kagan, revolves around a 2018 consent decree that established protocols for handling registrations submitted without proof of citizenship using the state registration form. The 2022 law seeks to eliminate these protocols, requiring election officials to reject such registrations.
While a trial court invalidated the proof-of-citizenship requirement for vote-by-mail and presidential elections, a panel of judges on the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals briefly reinstated the requirement for state-form registrations before putting it on hold again.
The RNC, along with state GOP lawmakers, criticized the 9th Circuit for interfering with state election-integrity measures and preventing the enforcement of the law enacted by the Arizona Legislature over two years ago.
