IN WHAT CAN ONLY BE mostly good news for election integrity advocates, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton upheld most of new Arizona laws in 2022 requiring proof of citizenship to vote in the state. New state law would mandate counties verify registered voters who haven’t provided proof of U.S. citizenship and cross-check voter registration data with various government databases. They were enacted as a direct result of Republican concerns over the authenticity of Biden’s 2020 ‘victory’ over Trump in Arizona. Voting ‘rights’ groups would have nothing of it, however, and neither would the D.O.J. or Democratic National Committee. They sued.
Suit was brought alleging the new laws were discriminatory, but the argument was rejected by Judge Bolton because the state has an interest in preventing voter fraud; in not allowing non-citizens to vote; and in promoting public confidence in election integrity. She did, however, limit the state from mandating a state registration form asking for a registrant’s state or country of birth because she found it to violate provisions of Civil Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act. Using the form would result in the investigation of only naturalized citizens based on a county recorder’s subjective belief that the registrant is a non-citizen. So far, so good.
Bolton has ruled on voting cases in the past. Without getting into the weeds of it, these opinions dealt with differing forms required for federal and state voter registrations. She ruled that if one used the federal form, the state could not require anything further in terms of proof of citizenship from Arizona voters voting in federal elections pursuant to a 1993 federal voter registration law. (The Supreme Court has made a similar holding in 2013.)
What does the federal form require? NOTHING, except a requirement a registrant ‘swear’ they are U.S. citizens. So that means illegal aliens who broke the law by entering the country won’t break the law when they falsely swear they are citizens on their voter registration forms? Are you frigging kidding me? WTF?!
The Order in Mi Familia Vota v. Fontes is here. Bolton wrote:
“The court finds that though it may occur, non-citizens voting in Arizona is quite rare, and non-citizen voter fraud in Arizona is rarer still,” the ruling states. “But while the voting laws are not likely to meaningfully reduce possible non-citizen voting in Arizona, they could help to prevent non-citizens from registering or voting.”
Right result. Wrong rationale. It makes no sense to say that non-citizens voting is rare, but non-citizen voter fraud is rarer. After all, a non-citizen voting is per se voter fraud. But I won’t quibble: at least the state-level safeguards against non-citizen voter fraud have been hardened.
sua sponte 