Controversy continues to surround Arizona’s two-track voter registration process, that allows some voters to avoid proving that they are citizens legally allowed to vote.
Currently, voters in Arizona can register for federal elections with a federal registration form that does not require proof of citizenship. Arizona residents who want to to vote in state and local elections must show “documentary proof of citizenship.”
The system was crafted and approved by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and former Arizona Secretary of State Michelle Reagan, and former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes, in order to settle a lawsuit filed by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).
The LULAC lawsuit stemmed from the 2014 passage by Arizona voters of Prop 200, a ballot initiative that requires that proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that the state could not require proof for voters using the federal form, which requires applicants to check a box attesting to citizenship.
From Influencewatch.com
Major financial supporters of LULAC include the left-of-center foundations Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the California Endowment, Tides Foundation, and Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund as well as a number corporate foundations, including those associated with the Ford Motor Company, AT&T, Anheuser-Busch, and Caesars Entertainment. Teachers unions have also funded LULAC; the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers have both provided contributions to the group in recent years.
The current president, Domingo Garcia. Prior to joining LULAC, Garcia served on the Democratic National Committee (DNC). He served on the committee for eight years, chaired the Latino caucus, and served on the executive committee. Later, Garcia also served as a Democrat in the Texas State House in the early 2000s prior to a failed bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012.
Sindy M. Benavides is the chief executive officer of LULAC and replaced previous CEO Brent Wilkes. Previously, she was a political director for the 2012 campaign of U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) and served as a director of community outreach at the Democratic National Committee.
In Arizona’s 2020 General election, over 11,600 federal ballots were cast. However, not all voters who use the federal ballot have failed to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. Many federal ballot voters are military members and U.S. citizens living abroad and fall under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). UOCAVA voters have proven citizenship but may only cast federal-only ballots because of their indefinite overseas status, according to AZ Free News.
In Maricopa County, there were 8,114 federal only ballots. President Joe Biden won 5,781 and President Donald Trump won 2,134, according to Maricopa County Recorder’s Office.
At the time of the settlement with LULAC, Reagan said the terms of the agreement made it “easy to vote and hard to cheat.” Reagan did not offer proof of her claim.
Under the new system, county recorders are required to allow anyone using a federal form to be registered to vote in federal elections, and allow anyone using a state form with proof of citizenship to be a “full-ballot voter,” eligible to vote in state and federal elections.
State forms without proof of citizenship are supposed to be checked overnight against the state’s drivers license database, which would prove citizenship. If it does not, the county recorder is required to notify the applicant that they cannot vote in local elections until they can prove their citizenship.
“There are two reasons why we find ourselves in this predicament,” one lobbyist told the Arizona Daily Independent. “One reason is that under the U. S. constitution, states are not really empowered to determine who can and cannot vote. Article 1, Section 4 gives the states that right with one hand, but takes it away with the other. The other reason is that LULAC has a vested interest in having illegal aliens vote in our elections. The will of the people of Arizona, as demonstrated with the approval of prop 200, was thwarted as a result of LULAC’s lawsuit and subsequent ruling by the Supreme Court.”