Alia Beard Rau, THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC
Local and national voting-rights groups say Arizona is failing to provide voter registration information to low-income residents, and allege the state is in violation of federal law under the National Voter Registration Act.
The act, also called the “motor voter act,” requires states to provide residents with a variety of opportunities to register to vote, including when interacting with the state’s public assistance program.
In a demand letter dated Wednesday and sent to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees elections in the state, as well as the Department of Economic Security, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System and the Department of Health Services, the voter groups allege that Arizona is failing to do this.
“One of the goals of the NVRA was to offer voter registration to people when it was convenient to them, when they are already interacting with the government,” said Sarah Brannon, director of the Public Agency Voter Registration Program at Project Vote. “Not everyone has a driver’s license. Not everyone will interact with the department of motor vehicles. This provides another avenue.”
According to the letter, the state is not properly offering registration services when talking to public assistance recipients by phone, or when recipients are interacting online with the state program. The letter also says staff is not providing provide adequate registration information when public assistance recipients file paperwork to change their address.
“There is no question this is reducing the turnout of people who register and who vote,” said ACLU of Arizona Legal Director Dan Pochoda. “There has been a large increase in the number of folks on public assistance in the state, but a significant decrease in the number of registration forms that came from the public assistance route.”
The letter states that, according to data Arizona reported to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, voter registration applications originating from public assistance offices decreased from 32,137 in 1999-2000 to 15,224 in 2011-2012. During the same time, applicants for food stamps more than doubled.
Brannon said about 52 percent of lower-income Arizonans are registered to vote, compared with 76 percent of higher-income residents.
Pochoda said if state officials refuse to remedy the problem, the voting-rights groups will likely sue.
Voting-rights groups have sued several other states in recent years, including New Mexico, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri and Ohio. The cases were settled and states agreed to improve compliance with the federal act.
The groups say as a result of the lawsuits, voter registrations from public assistance agencies in those states increased dramatically.
The Secretary of State’s Office on Wednesday evening said it has not yet received the letter. READ MORE