Arizona Attorney General Says Voters Who Registered Using the Federal Form Can’t Vote in State and Local Elections

On October 7, Arizona Attorney General Thomas C. Horne, a Republican, ruled that voters who registered to vote with the federal voter registration form are not entitled to vote in state or local elections. Furthermore, they are not entitled to sign ballot measure petitions, nor candidate petitions (unless the candidates are running for Congress or President). The Opinion does not say if such voters can sign a petition to recognize a new party.

The obvious flaw with the Opinion is that there is no Arizona election law that says there should be two separate lists of registered voters, one entitled to vote in all elections, and another to vote only in federal elections. If the Attorney General had ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not prohibit the legislature from establishing two separate lists, that Opinion might stand (although courts have invalidated such dual lists in other states, based on state constitutional guarantees that elections be “free and equal”). But it seems unlikely that courts would agree that the Attorney General himself, by this opinion, can now tell elections officials to establish two separate lists of registered voters.

The federal form has existed for twenty years.


Comments

Arizona Attorney General Says Voters Who Registered Using the Federal Form Can’t Vote in State and Local Elections — No Comments

  1. Sane folks can detect the interlocking stuff regarding USA Const —

    Art. I, Sec. 2 H. Reps
    17th Amdt Senate
    14th Amdt, Sec. 2 Prez Electors

    INSANE morons can and do write JUNK opinions.

    One more no brainer case for the courts.

  2. In California the HAVA forms are used. In Imperial
    County if a elector list one word of the parties name
    on the HAVA form, the election official will contact
    the elector and inquire if the electors intent on using
    one word of a party’s name was to list that party, e.g., When electors in Imperial County write the word
    “Independent” on the HAVA form it has alway been counted as the American Independent Party of California.

    This is why Richard Winger is wrong on the use of the
    word “Independent” for other than the American Independent Party of California.

  3. I am so thankful that Arizona exists so that it can make our bat shit crazy government in Texas look sane.

  4. If the federal government issued IDs, updating the address for the ID would effectively be the same as registering to vote. The federal government could send periodic updates to state election officials so they would know who to expect at the polls, and also who has moved away.

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