On Friday, Speaker of the House Ben Toma and Senate President Warren Petersen filed an emergency motion with the 9th Circuit Court to stay a district court’s injunction in order to allow Arizona to enforce what they say is a “common-sense” citizenship law in the 2024 General Election.
The district court upheld the portion of the recent legislation requiring verification of citizenship for voters wishing to vote in state races such as for governor and legislature. However, it struck down the portion of the law dealing with documented proof of citizenship in the context of federal elections.
Requiring proof of citizenship to vote is common sense and promotes integrity in our elections. This week, joined by the RNC, I filed an emergency motion in the 9th Circuit to stay the district court’s injunction so that AZ can enforce its common-sense citizenship laws in the… pic.twitter.com/qPFEZurgVU
— Ben Toma (@RepBenToma) June 29, 2024
A federal lawsuit was filed against Arizona’s proof of citizenship election law, less than 24 hours after Gov. Doug Ducey signed the legislation in March 2022.
Phoenix-based Mi Familia Vota sued the Arizona Secretary of State, who was now-Governor Katie Hobbs, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, and all 15 county recorders in an effort to obtain an injunction preventing several provisions of House Bill 2492 from taking effect. The lawsuit also sought a declaration that the provisions were unconstitutional.
HB2492 was introduced to address concerns that non-U.S. citizens are registered to vote in Arizona, many as Federal Only Voters who can cast ballots for U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and President, without verification of their citizenship status.
The bill established new election laws to require proof of U.S. citizenship for new voter registrations and mandates that Federal Only Voters cast ballots in person instead of utilizing early voting by mail options. Another provision addresses efforts to verify citizenship for roughly 220,000 of Arizona’s more than 4.3 million currently registered voters.
“This motion aims to enforce our law that restricts voting in Presidential and Congressional elections to U.S. citizens only. This step is crucial to maintain the integrity of our voting process and ensure that every legal vote counts,” said Rep. Alex Kolodin.
“As an elections lawyer I have fought hard to secure the integrity of our system of voting,” explained Kolodin. “As a candidate, I ran on a platform of exercising the Legislature’s litigation power to protecting our elections. As your representative, I have underscored the importance of the legislature litigating aggressively to safeguard our Republic.
“Your House Republicans are committed to taking this case to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. We believe in the principle that only citizens should have the privilege to vote in our federal elections, and we are dedicated to seeing this through to protect our democratic process,” argued Kolodin.
In May 2022, Toma and Petersen joined several groups, including the Republican National Committee, who had moved to intervene in the lawsuit.
According to AZ FREE News, “Mi Familia Vota, received help in its lawsuit from the lawyer behind the Russiagate hoax, Marc Elias.”
Former Arizona Supreme Court Justice Andrew Gould called the claims made by Mi Familia Vota and Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) unsupported by the facts or the law, and said that HB2492 is constitutional.
“The current lawsuits appear to assume that it is unconstitutional to disenfranchise non-citizens,” Gould told the Arizona Daily Independent in April after the legislation, HB2492, was passed by the Arizona Legislature.
“Of course, non-citizens have never had a right to vote under the Constitution, and so it is absurd to argue that HB2492 takes away a legal, constitutional right to vote from anyone.”
READ MORE ABOUT MI FAMILIA LAWSUIT HERE
On September 14, 2023, the district court granted partial summary judgment in favor of Mi Familia Vota.
The court found “that the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, 52 U.S.C. § 20501, et seq., preempted H.B. 2492 to the extent H.B. 2492 prohibits voters who lacked documentary proof of citizenship from voting for president or by mail. The district court further concluded that State Form submissions that are not accompanied by documentary proof of citizenship must be processed in accordance with a consent decree entered into by then Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan and Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell in the case League of United Latin American Citizens of Arizona v. Reagan.
The highly controversial LULAC consent decree required county recorders who receive a voter registration application that lacks documentary proof of citizenship, to search the Arizona Department of Transportation database, and if proof of citizenship corresponding to the applicant can be located, the applicant must be registered as a full-ballot voter. If the applicant’s citizenship status cannot be determined, he or she will be registered to vote only in federal elections.”
Obama is the president now.. the regime is not over
Undocumented democrat voters, it has always been. A name, for all those new ballots that magically appear when they need to give Brandon 83 million votes!
Trump’s mass deportations can’t begin soon enough.
It actually goes all the way back to the passage of the “motor voter” act, signed into law under Clinton!! That’s where a lot of the shenanigans found their opening.
Thank you Denise!
I googled “idiot” and came up with Clinton! Hell, either one makes no difference. I found this:
“The Act has made it easier for all Americans to register to vote and to maintain their registration.” I’m not sure just how Illegal trespassers got into the wording but it does say Americans.
Who, in their right mind, wanted foreigners to vote in America?
“If the applicant’s citizenship status cannot be determined, he or she will be registered to vote only in federal elections.”
Just who is responsible for this idiocy?
Democrats
OBAMA and SCOTUS during his regime.
The GOP actually. They’re the one being charged with voter fraud.