DOJ Sues Arizona Over Rep. Jake Hoffman’s Illegal Voter Suppression Bill

Nearly a decade ago, in June of 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Ariz., Inc., in a majority opinion written by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia no less, that “Arizona’s evidence-of-citizenship requirement, as applied to Federal Form applicants, is pre-empted by The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA)’s mandate that States “accept and use” the Federal Form.

Arizona and the state of Kansas set up a dual voter registration system: in order to vote in state and local elections, a resident needs to provide evidence-of-citizenship. To vote in federal races, a resident can register by the federal form and attst that he or she is a citizen. (At the time, I believe Oregon and Georgia sought to do the same, if memory serves).

The Kansas dual voter registration system was struck down by the federal court, and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court. Kansas Voter ID Law Struck Down by 10th Circuit:

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson found the law unconstitutional in June 2018, calling Kobach’s evidence of voter fraud “weak” and finding that the law violated both the Equal Protection Clause and the National Voter Registration Act. After Kobach left office in 2019, the appeal was continued by his successor, Scott Schwab.

[T]he appeals court found insufficient proof that such fraud is taking place.

“The secretary has failed to show that a substantial number of noncitizens have successfully registered in Kansas,” U.S. Circuit Judge Jerome Holmes wrote for a three-judge panel in Denver. “Thus, the [law’s] requirement necessarily requires more information than federal law presumes necessary for state officials.”

The court found that in 19 years only 67 noncitizens registered or tried to register in Kansas.

“Thus we are left with this incredibly slight evidence that Kansas’s interest in counting only the votes of eligible voters is under threat,” the opinion states. “Indeed, even as to those 39 noncitizens who appear on the Kansas voter rolls, the district court found that ‘administrative anomalies’ could account for the presence of many — or perhaps even most — of them there.”

The panel cited Kobach’s own argument as a reason for banning the law.

“If the secretary is correct that Kansas’ recent history is sprinkled with some hotly contested, close elections such that he reasonably could have an especially keen interest in ensuring that every proper vote counts, we are hard-pressed to see how that interest is furthered by the [law] — a law that undisputedly has disenfranchised approximately 30,000 would-be Kansas voters,” wrote Holmes, a George W. Bush appointee.

In December of 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the appeal from Kansas to revive its dual voter registreatio system. U.S. Supreme Court rejects bid to revive Kansas voting restriction: “The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a bid by Kansas to revive a restrictive Republican-backed law that required documentation of citizenship for voter registration – a measure struck down by lower courts for disenfranchising qualified voters.”

The state of Arizona had filed an appearance in the Kansas lawsuit in support of Republican voter suppression specialist Kris Kobach’s dual voter registration system. This ruling only applied to Kansas, however, and the state of Arizona still has a dual voter registration system. I believe Arizona may be the only state which still does.

Earlier this year I warned you about the election bill from Rep. Jake Hoffman, the election denier, Coup Plotter and fake GQP elector under investigation by the DOJ. Demand That Governor Ducey Veto This Illegal Jim Crow 2.0 Voter Suppression Bill (Updated) (excerpt):

Another Republican attempt to force federal-only voters to provide documentation of citizenship may also force an unknown number of Arizonans to re-register to vote.

House Bill 2492, sponsored by [Fake GQP Elector under investigation for election fraud by the DOJ] Rep. Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek) attempts to make election officials apply citizenship standards to voters registering with a federal voter registration form. Officials who fail to follow the proposed law would be guilty of a felony.

* *

Critics also warn that in Hoffman’s attempt to check the citizenship status of federal-only voters, he’s also putting the registration of potentially thousands of Arizonans at risk. That’s because the citizenship requirement would now apply to voters who haven’t changed their registration since 2005 — before the state adopted the law requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote.

Voters who haven’t updated their registration since 2005 would have to re-register, said Marilyn Rodriguez, a lobbyist for the ACLU.

“So many thousands of eligible voters could lose access to the polls based on specific and targeted criteria,” she told the Senate Government Committee earlier this month. “This bill singles out older voters, on average, and people who have lived in Arizona for a longer amount of time.”

Yeah, the legislative attorneys say it's illegal. But that didn't stop GOP lawmakers from sending a bill to @DougDucey that courts new litigation but also could force many Arizonans who have been voting for years to dig out new citizenship proof. https://t.co/7gdk4mLdfl

— Capitol Media Services 📢 Telling it like it is (@azcapmedia) March 28, 2022

Jake Johnson adds, Arizona Senate Approves GOP Bill That Could Spur US’s “Most Extreme Voter Purge”:

The Arizona Senate on Wednesday passed a Republican-authored bill that advocates warn could prompt “the most extreme voter purge in the country” by requiring state residents to retroactively provide proof of citizenship to stay on the rolls.

Marilyn Rodriguez, founder of the Arizona-based firm Creosote Partners, argued in a Twitter thread that H.B. 2492 is a “monumentally terrible attack on our elections.”

“Take the proof of citizenship requirement for voter registration, which was adopted in ’04. By making this a requirement for voters, this bill would retroactively apply it to the millions of AZ voters registered before the proof of citizenship law took effect 18 years ago,” Rodriguez explained. “Arizona is the only state in the nation with a documentary proof of citizenship requirement currently in force, but it exempts previously registered voters. But this bill would do away with that protection.”

Without intervention by the Arizona Supreme Court, Rodriguez continued, “the clear language here means that to be eligible to vote — regardless of when you registered — you need to have shown proof of citizenship.”

“Imagine how many of Arizona’s 4.35 million registered voters would be immediately forced off the rolls or given just 30 days to provide proof of their citizenship, such as a birth or naturalization certificate,” she wrote. “This is a recipe for chaos, not election integrity, and it would likely cut the state’s electorate in half overnight. If Arizona proceeds with this bill, it will draw numerous lawsuits and be in lonely, uncharted waters defending the indefensible.”

🚨ALERT: Arizona Legislature passes #HB2492, a bill requiring all voters to prove citizenship. The bill risks disenfranchisement for voters who registered before 2004 or used federal forms as they didn't have to submit proof of citizenship when registering.https://t.co/p70k5ydEX0

— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) March 24, 2022

Of course Governor Ducey signed th bill, because our douchebag governor has signed nearly every GQP voter suppression bill sent to his desk in the past eight years.

The thinking of Arizona’s voter suppression Republicans goes something like this: “Hey, we have a shiny new activist radical Republican Supreme Court, let’s do this again, and this time we will get a different result.” This, of course, is an admission of judicial corruption and politicization of the court, but Republicans don’t care. They are the anti-democracy authoritarian Sedition Party now. And the U.S. Supreme Court all but said recently that “the law is whatever we say it is, so deal with it.”

The U.S. Department of Justice yesterday announced that it is suing the state of Arizona over this facialy illegal law:

“House Bill 2492’s onerous documentary proof of citizenship requirement for certain federal elections constitutes a textbook violation of the National Voter Registration Act,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “For nearly three decades, the National Voter Registration Act has helped to move states in the right direction by eliminating unnecessary requirements that have historically made it harder for eligible voters to access the registration rolls. Arizona has passed a law that turns the clock back on progress by imposing unlawful and unnecessary requirements that would block eligible voters from the registration rolls for certain federal elections. The Justice Department will continue to use every available tool to protect all Americans’ right to vote and to ensure that their voices are heard.”

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona is dedicated to protecting voters in the state,” said U.S. Attorney Gary M. Restaino for the District of Arizona. “We are proud to join the Civil Rights Division in bringing this lawsuit to ensure that all eligible citizens in Arizona have the opportunity to register to vote and exercise their fundamental right to participate in our elections.” 

The Hill reports (excerpt):

The DOJ argues the requirement, part of H.B. 2492 slated to take effect in January, is “a textbook violation of the National Voter Registration Act [NVRA].”

[T]he Arizona law could remove tens of thousands of people from voting rolls.

[T]he new law would eliminate a provision that grandfathers in those who may have registered to vote decades before that, blocking them from voting in federal elections.

Data provided by the state indicates there are some 11,600 federal-only voters who have not provided the proof of citizenship necessary to vote in state elections. But NPR estimates show as many as 192,000 voters could be removed from rolls if the new law takes effect.

“Arizona is a repeat offender when it comes to attempts to make it harder to register to vote,” Clarke said in a call with reporters.

“Arizona’s own nonpartisan legislative council warned legislators that the NVRA preempts HB 2492’s documentary proof of citizenship requirements for applicants completing the federal form who seek to vote in federal elections. … Nonetheless, the legislature ignored these warnings and enacted HB 2492 anyway,” she added.

The Arizona Mirror reports, U.S. sues Arizona over proof of citizenship voting law (excerpt):

The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division announced Tuesday that it has sued Arizona over a law signed by the state’s Republican governor in March that requires people registering to vote prove their citizenship to participate in a presidential election or to vote by mail in any federal election.

Republican proponents of the law, House Bill 2492, claim that requiring voters to provide a documentary proof of citizenship, like a birth certificate or passport, helps prevent voter fraud. But voting rights advocates say that non-citizen voting is extremely rare, and the law will disenfranchise [longtime] voters who will now have to jump through additional hurdles to be eligible to vote.

[U]nder the new law, the roughly 31,000 people in Arizona who are currently federal-only voters would have to show proof of citizenship to continue participating in elections. Arizonans who registered to vote before 1996 in the state, before proof of citizenship was required to get a driver’s license, and who have not updated their voter registration would also have to provide documentary evidence. According to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, 7,628 of the state’s roughly 23,000 active federal-only voters cast ballots in the 2020 general election.

Surveys show that between 5 and 7 percent of Americans lack one of the documents required under the law to prove their citizenship. People who are more likely to be born outside a hospital, like Native Americans, are also less likely to have access to the necessary documents.

Lawyers for the Arizona Legislature have said that the new law is unconstitutional given how it affects federal elections and is in direct violation of the Supreme Court’s 2013 opinion. By bringing the law back this year, Arizona was setting itself up for a legal challenge likely to end up before the now more conservative U.S. Supreme Court.

Several non-profit and legal groups including the Campaign Legal Center and Arizona-based organizations have already brought a challenge to the law in court.

The new Arizona law also requires that voters provide their place of birth on their voter registration form and instructs election officials to reject applications that fail to list a place of birth. Clarke said that requirement is unlawful and immaterial because many U.S. citizens are born outside the country but are naturalized later in life.

Arizona is currently the only state that requires voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. 

Arizona Republican Rep. Jake Hoffman, who sponsored HB 2492, was one of 11 people in Arizona and 84 across the country to serve as a fake elector for former President Donald Trump. He has supported Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen because of voter fraud.

Lock him up!

The lawsuit marks the first enforcement action filed by the DOJ’s voting section since March 2022, when the agency sued Galveston County, Texas, over the county’s redistricting plan, which the agency said violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act because it doesn’t give Black and Hispanic voters an equal opportunity to participate and elect their candidates of choice.

The new lawsuit is also the first voting enforcement agency taken by the agency under President Joe Biden that alleges violations of the National Voter Registration Act, also known as the motor voter law, which was enacted in 1993 in order to set requirements for voter registration for federal elections.

Since the 2020 election, Republican states have enacted dozens of restrictive voting laws that target who can register and cast a ballot. Clarke said Tuesday that the DOJ is determined to continue fighting unconstitutional voting laws.

“This lawsuit reflects our deep commitment to using every available tool to protect every American’s right to vote and to ensure their voices are heard in our democracy,” she said.