By Corinne Murdock |
On Wednesday afternoon, the Senate will vote on a bill requiring proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. HB2492 was passed out of the House along party lines a little less than a month ago.
The bill has earned the ire of left-wing groups. Illegal immigrant voting activists shouted down the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month after they approved the bill along party lines. It also inspired pushback from those who were in the national spotlight recently, such as an illegal immigrant who stalked Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) into an Arizona State University (ASU) bathroom.
HB2492 would impact federal-only voters heavily because they aren’t required by federal law to provide proof of citizenship. The bill would prevent individuals from gaming that system by requiring a proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in Arizona. Once an individual submits their voter registration application, election officials would rely on all levels of government databases to determine the applicant’s citizenship.
If there’s proof that the applicant isn’t a citizen, then election officials would refer the case to both the county attorney and attorney general for further investigation. If no data exists to prove or disprove the applicant’s citizenship status, then the election officials would merely notify the applicant of their rejection and offer them time to respond with proof of citizenship.
Election officials would also be required to give to the attorney general a list of all individuals who registered to vote in the past but didn’t provide satisfactory evidence of citizenship by Halloween of this year. The attorney general would have until next March to investigate the citizenship status of those on the list and submit a report on the findings to the secretary of state, Senate president, and House speaker.
According to the bill sponsor, State Representative Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), there were over 11,000 individuals who didn’t provide a proof of citizenship prior to voting in the 2020 election, compared to 1,700 individuals who did the same in 2018.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
