March 20, 2013
On March 18, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral
arguments in the case of Arizona v. Inter Tribal Counsel of
Arizona. Project Vote is one of several plaintiffs
represented in the case. Michael Slater, executive director of Project Vote,
released the following statement about the case
“Voter registration should be a simple
process for all eligible Americans, but in Arizona it is not. Arizona requires
citizens to provide documentary proof of their citizenship. This law results in
eligible Arizonans being denied registration and stymies the efforts of
community voter registration drives.
The result of Arizona’s documentary proof of citizenship
requirement has been a significant drop in voter registration in the state of
Arizona. During the two and a half years when the law has been in effect, more
than 30,000 U.S. citizens attempted to register to vote, only to have their
registration applications rejected.
This proof-of-citizenship requirement conflicts with the National
Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), which created a simple federal voter
registration form that states must accept and use. This federal form requires
that applicants swear, under penalty of perjury, that they are citizens of the
United States. When the NVRA was enacted, Congress specifically considered the
issue of proof of citizenship, and determined that an affidavit rather than
documentary proof was sufficient to insure the integrity of the system.
The intent of the NVRA was to simplify the registration process,
but the Arizona law takes us backwards, and erects the very sorts of hurdles
the NVRA was designed to remove. In April 2012, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled Arizona must accept the federal registration form without
requiring additional documents. We trust that the U.S. Supreme Court will
uphold this ruling.”
During the arguments Monday, Project Vote was encouraged that
several of the justices inquired appropriately into how the Arizona law
undermines the effectiveness of the NVRA. Justice Kennedy, for example, said
that under Arizona’s interpretation, “it seems to me the federal form, as some
of my colleagues have indicated, is not worth very much.”
voting rights groups. The first lawsuit was filed by a coalition of groups,
including the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc., the Arizona Advocacy
Network, the League of United Latin American Citizens Arizona (LULAC), the
League of Women Voters of Arizona, the Hopi Tribe, and State Sen. Steve
Gallardo. The second case brought by Project Vote, Southwest Voter Registration
Education Project, Valle Del Sol, Friendly House, Chicanos Por La Causa,
Arizona Hispanic Community Forum, Common Cause, and a number of individual
plaintiffs. The plaintiffs are represented by the Lawyers Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law and MALDEF.