Judge rules Arizona law requiring proof of citizenship to vote is not discriminatory

A federal judge ruled Thursday that a new Arizona law requiring voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship is not discriminatory.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton concluded Thursday that state legislators did not discriminate when they adopted the voting laws in 2022, and that the state has an interest in preventing voter fraud, The Associated Press reported.

“Considering the evidence as a whole, the court concludes that Arizona’s interests in preventing non-citizens from voting and promoting public confidence in Arizona’s elections outweighs the limited burden voters might encounter when required to provide [documentary proof of citizenship],” Bolton wrote.

She said part of the law, which requires individuals using a state registration form to include the state or country where they were born, violated part of the Civil Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act “because the provision will result in the investigation of only naturalized citizens” based on the county recorder’s beliefs that a naturalized citizen is a noncitizen.

The Justice Department, the Democratic National Committee and voting groups filed legal challenges to the bills, signed into law by former Gov. Doug Ducey (R), arguing they were racially discriminatory.

House Bill 2492 adopted stricter voting requirements in Arizona, which already requires people looking to register to vote to provide proof of citizenship for state elections. It now requires election workers to verify the documentation of citizenship for voters in federal elections.

It has banned people who could not show official proof of citizenship, such as a passport or a driver’s license, from voting and registering to vote. The attorney general’s office also must investigate all cases in which noncitizens attempted to vote or register, The Arizona Republic reported.

The case went to a bench trial in late 2023, in which experts highlighted the state’s history of voting discrimination, which included literacy tests that excluded Native American and Latino voters from participating, as well as voter roll purges, which made it harder for minorities to re-register to vote, the AP reported.

Arizona, a key swing state narrowly won by President Biden in 2020, has seen increasingly close elections in the last several years. It has been at the center of political controversy after election results have been contested.

Bolton argued no evidence had been presented that the new laws intended to suppress voter registration among minority groups.

Ultimately, Bolton argued the laws do not “impose an undue burden on the right to vote or violate the equal protection and due process guarantees of the U.S. constitution,” and the plaintiffs didn’t show that the laws were created with discriminatory purposes.

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