On April 14, the Arizona House passed HB 2177 by a vote of 40-16. It requires the national committees of political parties to submit documents on presidential candidate eligibility, in order for that party’s presidential candidate to appear on the Arizona ballot. The bill had already passed the Senate, so it is on its way to the Governor, who is a Republican. Here is the text of the bill.
The national committee must furnish a long-form birth certificate, showing the name of the hospital in which the candidate was born. There are provisions for presidential candidates who do not have such a document, however. The bill does not impose any duties on independent presidential candidates, or write-in presidential candidates, or even the presidential nominees of parties that got on the ballot by petition that year. The national committees must also furnish documentation that its presidential nominee has lived in the United States for at least 14 years, another requirement contained in Article II of the Constitution.
The bill says nothing about vice-presidential nominees, but Arizona is one of two states that doesn’t print the names of vice-presidential nominees on the ballot anyway. The other such state is North Dakota. This year, the Arizona legislature did pass a bill to show the names of vice-presidential nominees on the general election ballot. It is HB 2335, and it passed on April 12. But despite the likelihood that future Arizona ballots will show the name of vice-presidential nominees, HB 2177 does not require any documents on eligibility for vice-presidential candidates.