Posted on 11/25/2013 2:50:13 PM PST by DeaconBenjamin
PHOENIX — Attorneys for four Arizona groups involved with voter registration are trying to get a federal judge to kill a bid by Secretary of State Ken Bennett to require proof of citizenship from all who register to vote.
Nina Perales of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund said the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that Arizona cannot enforce its documentation requirement on those who use a registration form from the federal Election Assistance Commission.
Perales said Bennett’s lawsuit “is essentially trying to make an end run around the U.S. Supreme Court decision.”
But Bennett said all he is doing is following a road map the high court provided when it ruled against Arizona in June.
He noted the justices said Arizona is free to ask the Election Assistance Commission to revamp its registration form to include a proof-of-citizenship requirement when individuals seek to vote in Arizona.
The justices said that if the EAC refuses — which is what its executive director did — Arizona is free to sue and, if necessary, bring the case back before them.
Bennett said that’s what he is trying to do.
The fight involves a 2004 voter-approved measure requiring proof of citizenship to register, and identification at the polls. Courts sided with the state on the ID requirement.
But the Supreme Court ruled in June that Congress specifically empowered the commission to design a national voter-registration form. It does not require documentation to prove citizenship, only that those registering swear, under penalty of perjury, that they are eligible to vote.
The court, however, did leave the option of petitioning the commission for a change.
When that was rejected, Bennett and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach sought a court order to force the commission to alter its forms. Kansas has a similar proof-of-citizenship requirement.
Groups opposing the state effort include Chicanos por la Causa, Valle del Sol, the Southwest Voter Registration Project and Common Cause.
In her legal filings, Perales said these groups rely on having voter-registration forms at their offices and in community-based registration drives.
The Supreme Court’s ruling did not disturb the requirement that those who register using the state’s own form provide proof of citizenship.
She said that is why these groups want the option of using the federal form, saying that a proof requirement would “entail significant burdens for many citizens who lack the documentation required.”
Arizona law does allow a driver’s license issued after 1996 to be used as proof.
But Perales quoted Debra Lopez, who has been involved with Latino Vote Project, who said that those who do not have a license will be required to produce something else proving citizenship — and that would require Lopez to bring a copy machine to registration events.
Perales dismissed Bennett’s argument that the Supreme Court essentially invited Arizona to sue to force the Election Assistance Commission to change the registration form, saying the state’s request had already been rejected twice.
I’m surprised she doesn’t already have a copy machine at her voter registration events.
Isn’t that how they beef up their numbers?
Citizens oppose continued effort by illegals to scam citizenship proof to vote fraudulently
Nothing but a brazen and obvious effort to foster voter fraud. This would expose nearly the entire leftist agenda if only so many Americans were not so frigging craven and/or stupid. God this is maddening!
The GOPe should have such powerful, driving cojones.
Now why would they do that? Hmmmm? Because they are organized subversives. Organized groups attacking our electoral process. Quite likely, practically a certainty, foreigners attacking our electoral process.
They are enemy combatants and should be dealt with militarily.
Add one more charge: working at the behest of a foreign government.
All of these groups are connected to the Mexican government, unabashedly so.
allowing foreigners to vote should be an impeachable offense
if illegal aliens feel an overwhelming compulsion to vote, perhaps they should exercise that right in their own countries. Voting is a citizen right, designed so that our citizens control our government, instead of our government being a puppet of some foreign interest
The societal rot is wide and deep.
The edges of this once great land are fraying more and more every day.
I live in AZ; I will use your argument, verbatim.
The Founders didn't put a right to vote in the Constitution for a reason.
Universal Suffrage has been imposed via Constitutional Amendment, with the most devastating effects coming over the last 100 years.
To hell with ALIENS voting, we need to be working on ways to keep parasite CITIZENS from voting.
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.
John Adams
I’ve always wondered why a state can’t require proof of state citizenship. The requirements then would be proof of US citizenship and residency. The constitution compels both. Seems simple and bullet proof against sCOTUS challenges because, surely, a state has a compelling interest in confirming whether the people voting (or using services) within the state for local/state/national elections are eligible to vote as citizens of the state. And, there is only one constitutional test, composed of two parts. Simply, a person is not a state resident unless they are both a US citizen and a resident.
Activists = Dems.
Astro Turf always = conservatives
It is getting harder and harder to tell the difference between terrorists and idiots. sigh
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