9th Circuit Court rules AZ residents must have citizenship proof for state voter registration form

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Arizona residents must provide proof of citizenship to use the state voter registration form.

The court on Thursday granted a partial stay of the U.S. District Court of Arizona's ruling in May, now allowing part of the state's 2022 laws on federal-only voters to take effect, Votebeat reported.

The temporary stay requires residents who cannot provide proof of U.S. citizenship to use the federal voter registration form, rather than the state voter registration form.

Arizona is a state with the unusual situation of bifurcated elections, in which residents who provide proof of U.S. citizenship can vote in all elections while the others may vote only in federal elections, resulting in ballots cast by voters who haven’t proven their U.S. citizenship.  

State law requires residents registering to vote in the state to provide proof of U.S. citizenship.  

However, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that Arizona must accept U.S. voter registration forms because of federal requirements under the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, the state allows residents registering to vote who don't provide proof of citizenship to receive ballots for federal races only.

The circuit court's stay will remain in place until September, when an appeals panel will hear the case.

A 2018 consent decree required election officials to accept state voter registration forms for residents who didn't provide proof of U.S. citizenship. The court's stay reverses that decree.

Roughly a dozen voting rights groups have challenged the 2022 laws regarding federal-only voters, claiming the laws violate federal law and are discriminatory.

Arizona state Senate President Warren Peterson, a Republican, said the ruling is “a victory for election integrity in Arizona.”