Democratic Party attorney-operative, Marc Elias, is celebrating success in the courtroom after a judge determined that non-citizens can effectively vote in Arizona’s elections. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton struck down two Arizona laws that preserved the right to vote for U.S. citizens.
In her ruling issued Wednesday, Bolton struck down H.B. 2492 and H.B. 2243. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke with the Biden Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division called the laws’ requirements “onerous.”
Opponents of the laws complained that the laws were not only onerous, they were unnecessary because there was no evidence of noncitizens voting in “substantial numbers.”
However, according to the Free Enterprise Club, in the 2020 General Election, 11,600 voters never proved their citizenship. Former President Donald Trump lost that election by 10,457 votes to President Joe Biden, a 0.3% margin, marking the first time a Democratic presidential nominee carried Arizona since Bill Clinton in 1996.
In 2022, Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed House Bill 2492, sponsored by Sen. Jake Hoffman, reestablishing a proof of citizenship requirement for all voters in Arizona elections. H.B. 2492 requires Federal Only Voters, who are only eligible for casting a vote in federal elections in Arizona, to provide documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC). If they do not, they would not be eligible to vote in a presidential election or by mail. The law also required county recorders to reject state voter registration applications that do not include proof of citizenship.
While a portion of HB2243 and all of House Bill 2492 are not being enforced by the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office and Arizona’s 15 county records due to the federal lawsuits, a reporting element of HB2243 has been in effect, according to rulings by Bolton.
That includes ARS 16-165(M) which requires that the AZSOS “shall report” five types of voter registration information to the Legislature at the end of each quarter. The required data involves the number of cancelled voter registrations related to deaths, driver’s licenses in other states, jury questionnaire answers, and inactive voting history.
However, in April, the Arizona Daily Independent requested copies of the two reports which would have been due under ARS 16-165(M). The request was met with a response that there was “no record” of said reports being received.
As reported by the Arizona Daily Independent, “Legislative staffers referred any further inquiry to the AZSOS. An April 24 request to Fontes’ communication director as to where the reports could be found was acknowledged the same day. Then one week later, the AZSOS responded that the inquiry was being treated as a public records request.”
It would appear that Fontes has chosen to ignore all of the law.
ARS 16-165(M) reads that the AZSOS “shall report the following information to the legislature at the end of each quarter:
- The number of deaths reported to the secretary of state by the department of health services, the number of voter registration cancellation notices issued by the secretary of state to the county recorders as a result of those reports and the number of registrations canceled as a result of those notices.
- The number of persons reported to the secretary of state who have been issued a driver license or the equivalent of an Arizona nonoperating identification license in another state, the number of notices sent pursuant to subsection E of this section and the number of voter registrations that have been placed in inactive status and the number of voter registrations that have been canceled as a result of those notices.
- The number of persons who have stated on a jury questionnaire that the person is not a United States citizen, the number of notices sent pursuant to subsection A, paragraph 10 of this section and the number of registrations that have been canceled as a result of those notices.
- The number of persons who have stated on a jury questionnaire that the person is not a resident of the county, the number of notices sent pursuant to subsection A, paragraph 9, subdivision (b) of this section and the number of registrations that have been canceled as a result of those notices.
- The number of registrations on the inactive voter list that have been canceled pursuant to subsection A, paragraph 7 of this section.”
In March of this year, Elias was panned by Latino leaders for implying that Latino voters were too stupid to know how to cast their ballots.
Elias’ commentary on the capacity of Latino voters involved his effort to turn two Yuma County ballot harvesters into community heroes. He claimed the harvesters were needed to help ignorant voters.
The illegal ballot harvesting activities were exposed by two Yuma County men, David Lara and Gary Garcia, through hidden video surveillance outside a San Luis polling station in July 2020. Former San Luis mayor Guillermina Fuentes and local resident Alma Yadira Juarez were convicted last year in part based on the video evidence.
Yet according to attorney Elias, a 2016 anti-ballot harvesting law enacted by the Arizona Legislature made a criminal out of people like Fuentes, who Elias described as “a community leader.”
Lara, a local businessman, called Elias’ position “insulting and disrespectful,” because he implied San Luis voters could not figure out how to fill out and deliver their ballots. Or that they “need help” deciding who to vote for, as Fuentes suggested to investigators.
Elias is a well-known Democratic operative who served as general counsel for John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign and the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign. His law firm has been involved in several election-related litigations across the country, including Arizona.