On the heels of Florida filing suit against the Department of Homeland Security for trying to stop the state from removing noncitizens from its voting rolls, yesterday Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy issued a temporary stay in another noncitizen voting case.
Arizona v. Gonzalez involves Arizona’s Proposition 200, which would prevent noncitizens from illegally voting by requiring proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in Arizona. The Ninth Circuit determined that Proposition 200’s registration provision conflicts with the National Voter Registration Act to the extent that Arizona would require an applicant to provide proof of citizenship when he or she is using the National Mail Voter Registration Form to register to vote.
Arizona asked the Ninth Circuit to stay its ruling from going into effect until after the upcoming election, but the Ninth Circuit declined. Arizona sought review in the Supreme Court, and Justice Kennedy granted a stay pending a response from Arizona by Monday and a response from the groups challenging Arizona’s law by next Wednesday. This case has been lingering in the federal courts since 2004 and already made one trip to the Supreme Court.
From Florida to Arizona, states are recognizing that the integrity of elections is at stake, and some are directly confronting the issue of noncitizen voting and voter fraud.
