by Corinne Murdock | Apr 20, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
A progressive Phoenix-based nonprofit announced it would invest $10 million in Arizona to rally the Latino voter base for the upcoming midterm elections. The nonprofit, Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC), announced the $10 million campaign last Thursday.
Present at the campaign launch was Democrat gubernatorial candidate and former Obama administration official Marco Lopez, discovered in recent months to be tied to an $800 million international political bribery scandal involving a construction conglomerate.
CPLC’s political action committee (PAC) endorsed Lopez last December.
As reported, Lopez’s company received $35,000 from the construction conglomerate for several months of work on former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s 2012 campaign. The $35,000 had ties to a $3 million bribe from a shell company trading campaign money for public works contracts. A shell company from Peña Nieto’s former campaign lieutenant gave a payout to Lopez from the millions afforded by the bribe money.
Lopez denied any wrongdoing. He indicated that his opponent, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, was behind the investigative reports.
Lopez wasn’t the only controversial face present. Progressive nonprofits Mi Familia Vota (MFV) and Promise Arizona (PAZ) were there as well: they’re helping the CPLC initiative. The nonprofits aim to increase Arizona’s Latino voter base by a minimum of two percentage points, from around 14 to 16 percent.
MFV has kept busy this month. After Governor Doug Ducey approved legislation requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration, the social justice organization sued state officials. MFV received the help of Hillary Clinton’s Russiagate hoax lawyer, Marc Elias, to file the lawsuit.
PAZ has recently recovered from connections to a different scandal. Former State Senator Tony Navarrete (D-Phoenix) served as their deputy director for a decade, up until his arrest for molestation. Navarrete faces seven felony charges. According to their leadership, Navarrete apprised the nonprofit of relevant legislation.
According to the Census Bureau’s latest population estimates, about 32 percent of Arizona’s population is Hispanic or Latino: around 2.3 out of the 7.3 million people in the state.
During the 2018 midterms, there were over 3.7 million registered voters with nearly 65 percent voter turnout.
As of January, Arizona listed over 4.35 million registered voters: 34.5 percent Republican, nearly 31.4 percent Democratic, and over 33.3 percent “other.” Less than one percent registered as Libertarian.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Apr 1, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), an activist organization that’s pushed for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, sued Arizona over the latest election integrity law passed, HB2492, which requires proof of citizenship in order to vote. LUCHA describes itself as a nonpartisan social justice nonprofit.
The nonprofit’s complaint alleged that applicants would have the county election officials using “outdated” citizenship data from “unreliable” sources. Therefore, LUCHA claimed, the government would only succeed in intimidating individuals born outside of the country that are citizens, not preventing any non-citizens from voting.
LUCHA also claimed that millions of Americans lack ready access to documents that prove their citizenship status. They stretched their argument to frame the new law as having a greater burden and therefore discrimination on the elderly, the poor, and black Americans.
LUCHA made headlines last fall for its members following and filming Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) while in an Arizona State University (ASU) bathroom. The activists were upset with Sinema’s lack of support for President Joe Biden’s reconciliation bill.
As AZ Free News reported earlier this week, another social justice organization, Mi Familia Vota, also sued Arizona officials over the new law. The organization received help from the lawyer behind the Russiagate hoax, Marc Elias.
Attorney General candidate Andrew Gould opined that the lawsuits were unsubstantiated. Gould asserted that the bill was a “neutral, reasonable, non-discriminatory restriction” affecting non-citizens.
“The current lawsuits appear to assume that it is unconstitutional to disenfranchise non-citizens. 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,” wrote Gould. “[I]n these lawsuits, the parties appear to argue that ANY restriction whatsoever on registering to vote is unconstitutional. They are wrong on the facts and the law.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Apr 1, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
With the help of Hillary Clinton’s Russiagate hoax lawyer Marc Elias, the Phoenix-based Latino activist organization Mi Familia Vota filed a lawsuit Thursday to challenge Arizona’s newly-enacted law requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration. Republican legislators and Governor Doug Ducey have reiterated that the legislation, HB2492, doesn’t apply retroactively to Arizonans who registered to vote without providing proof of citizenship before 2004, meaning those individuals won’t have to re-register to vote. There’s contention to that provision in question: opponents of the law argue that the new definition of a qualified voter requires all registered voters to have submitted proof of citizenship.
The complaint filed by Elias on behalf of Mi Familia Vota alleged that HB2492 was “confusing, discriminatory, and unconstitutional,” as well as “voter suppression,” claiming it would prevent those already registered without proof of citizenship from voting. The complaint also claimed that HB2492 shared the same faults as Proposition 200, a voter-approved initiative in 2004 that required county recorders to reject any application for registration that didn’t include satisfactory evidence of U.S. citizenship.
The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) struck down Proposition 200, ruling that it was a violation of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) which doesn’t require proof of citizenship when registering to vote. However, as Arizona Free Enterprise Deputy Director Greg Blackie explained during the State Senate hearing of the bill, this law was designed to fall within the bounds of SCOTUS precedent because the NVRA doesn’t prohibit states from denying registration if there’s proof that the applicant isn’t a citizen.
Mi Familia Vota’s complaint further insisted that the new law would undermine early mail-in voting, due to the fact that it would negate the ease of voting provided by that method. The complaint also claimed that around 200,000 registered voters would have to locate and present proof of citizenship in order to vote. For that claim, the complaint cited an opinion piece in the Arizona Republic, which didn’t make a definitive claim that those voters would be scrutinized.
“If you registered to vote in Arizona before 2004 and never provided proof that you’re a U.S. citizen — a number that includes close to 200,000 voters who got their driver’s licenses before October 1, 1996, in the days before proof of citizenship was required — you, too, could be suspect. In the eyes of the GOP-run Arizona legislature, that is,” stated the article. [emphasis added]
Setting aside the potential difficulties presented to voters, the complaint argued that Arizona had no compelling interest to justify requiring proof of citizenship of its voters. It claimed that the lack of proof of non-citizens who’d voted proved that point.
In terms of requested relief, the complaint asked the court to find the new law to be in violation of the rights to vote and due process as outlined in the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Mar 2, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
On Tuesday, the Arizona House passed a bill allowing only political parties, county recorders, or election officials to distribute early ballots or active early voter list request forms to voters. The bill, HB2786, passed 31-26 along party lines.
State Representative Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek) sponsored the bill; his other bill barring illegal immigrants from voting passed the House on Monday. Another election integrity bill passed both the House and Senate on Monday, too: a constitutional amendment proposition that will appear on the ballot for voters to decide.
House Democrats lamented that nonprofit organizations like Mi Familia Vota would lose the ability to engage more voters. Mi Familia Vota is a national organization based in Phoenix that focuses on voter registration and political activism, with a practice of allowing illegal immigrants to work for them. Last summer, Mi Familia Vota in Nevada engaged in door knocking to coax Hispanic neighborhoods into getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Mi Familia Vota pledged $10 million to increase the Hispanic voters turnout in their #BastaTrump campaign. That resulted in 2.4 first-time or newly-registered voters, bolstering Mi Familia Vota’s targeted key battleground states: California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Florida.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Sep 17, 2021 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Pima County is backing an event celebrating illegal immigrants and advocating to equip them with taxpayer-funded legal defense. Pima County Attorney’s Office has sponsored the event, as well as Pima County Board of Supervisor Adelita Grijalva’s special staff assistant, Marjava Ramirez, while Tucson Mayor Regina Romero announced her support for the event on Thursday. In addition to their sponsorship, the county attorney’s office will offer information about marijuana expungement and gun locks at the event.
The “We Are Home Celebration” will begin with several hours of voter outreach for a ballot initiative to allow illegal immigrants access to public defenders for their deportation cases, also known as “universal representation”. This portion of the event will be led by PIMA County Justice For All – Justicia Para Todos. They need at least 75,000 signatures by next summer to appear on the 2022 ballot. Currently, they have around 6,000 signatures.
According to campaign manager for the ballot initiative, Martha Reyes, illegal immigrants often lack the funds for adequate representation, raising the likelihood of their deportation.
“We want to establish a legal office for undocumented folks in deportation proceedings. These are typically poor people who don’t have money to get a lawyer,” Reyes said. “They’re people who have been here for years, and the only thing they want is a better life and a better future for their kids. A simple [traffic] stop can change their whole lives.”
The ballot initiative has attracted the attention of some of Hollywood’s elite. Last month, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the director made famous by his Broadway hit, “Hamilton,” donated $25,000 to the ballot initiative.
Other sponsors for the event include Mi Familia Vota, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, Tucson Jobs with Justice, LUCHA – Living United for Change in Arizona, Arizona Center for Empowerment, International Painters Union Local 86, Corazon Arizona, AzCOSH, Moms Clean Air Force, Arizona Dream Act Coalition ADAC, Care in Action US, Jahmar International, and Healthcare Rising Arizona.
In addition to Romero, several other elected officials and tribal leaders have also endorsed the initiative. Representatives Raul Grijalva (D-AZ-03) and Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ-02); State Representative Andres Cano (D-Tucson); Tucson City Councilmembers Lane Santa Cruz, Paul Cunningham, Paul Durham, and Richard Fimbres; Pima County Supervisor and Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) Board Member Sadie Shaw; Pascua Yaqui Tribe Chairman Robert Valencia; and Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris.
The government-backed event will take place Saturday at Mission Manor Park, from 9 am to 3 pm. The event will also offer free COVID-19 vaccinations and immigration services.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com
