By Daniel Stefanski |

Arizona Republican legislators are seeking cooperation from county election officials on a state law pertaining to elections.

Late last month, a coalition of Republican state House members wrote to county recorders and election officials around the state after an initial panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit allowed a law on proof of citizenship requirements for State Voter Registration forms to go into effect.

The letter, which was signed by Republican members of the House Municipal Oversight and Elections Committee, called on these officials around the state to “reject Arizona’s state-specific voter registration form submissions that lack documentary proof of citizenship,” and to “remove foreign citizens from your voter rolls.”

These legislators highlighted the law that was allowed by the Ninth Circuit – A.R.S. 16.121.01 (C), which reads: “C. Except for a form produced by the United States election assistance commission, any application for registration shall be accompanied by satisfactory evidence of citizenship as prescribed in § 16-166, subsection F, and the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall reject any application for registration that is not accompanied by satisfactory evidence of citizenship. A county recorder or other officer in charge of elections who knowingly fails to reject an application for registration as prescribed by this subsection is guilty of a class 6 felony.”

They added, “This law, which the Legislature passed in 2022, is critical to the integrity of Arizona’s elections. It also prevails over the 2018 Consent Decree entered into by the Arizona Secretary of State and Maricopa County Recorder in League of United Latin American Citizens of Arizona v. Reagan, No. 2: l 7-cv-04102- DGC (D. Ariz. June 18, 2018). Consequently, enforcement of A.R.S. § 16-121.0l(C) should ease your respective offices’ administrative burdens because you are no longer required to search the Arizona Department of Transportation database to search for evidence of citizenship on behalf of an applicant who does not supply citizenship documentation.”

Just days later, another panel on the Ninth Circuit reversed the order that had justified and warranted this letter to county officials.

The members who signed the letter were Representatives Jacqueline Parker, Alexander Kolodin, Justin Heap, Rachel Jones, and Austin Smith.

The most-recent decision from the Ninth Circuit is expected to quickly make its way to the Supreme Court of the United States in an attempt to obtain emergency consideration.

Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.