The Justice Department is suing over the new Arizona voting law. Demanding proof of American citizenship to become eligible to cast a ballot in US elections is an “unlawful” and “unnecessary” form of voter suppression, according to the suit. This is consistent with the narrative of both the Biden administration and the Democratic Party in general that requiring proof of identity and citizenship to vote is racist.
Arizona Voting Issues
“The United States’ complaint contends that House Bill 2492 violates the [National Voter Registration Act] by requiring that applicants produce documentary proof of citizenship before they can vote in presidential elections or vote by mail in any federal election when they register to vote using the uniform federal registration form created by the NVRA,” a July 5 Justice Department press release flatly declares.
“For nearly three decades, the National Voter Registration Act has helped to move states in the right direction by eliminating unnecessary requirements that have historically made it harder for eligible voters to access the registration rolls,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is quoted as saying in the release. “Arizona has passed a law that turns the clock back on progress by imposing unlawful and unnecessary requirements that would block eligible voters from the registration rolls for certain federal elections.”
Garland’s DOJ is thus using the menacing specter of voter suppression in a “civil rights” context that intentionally conjures the even larger ghost of racial oppression to assert that making sure only American citizens vote in American federal elections is a dastardly plot that “turns the clock back” on the ever-elastic word “progress.”
Doug Ducey (Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Arizona’s new law was signed by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey in March and is part of a mounting effort in recent years to ensure electoral integrity that has been greatly fueled by the chaotic conditions on the southern border and estimates that there are as more than 20 million illegal aliens currently residing in the US. The normalization of mail-in voting during the height of the coronavirus pandemic had made the effort all the more pressing for Republicans.
Southern Poverty Justice Department?
The US Supreme Court has struck down similar legislation crafted by border-state Arizona in the past on technical grounds without firmly settling the issue. For Democrats and their allies, making their massive voter registration drives as unobstructed as possible is a crucial goal.
“The ruling allows for the continuation of civic participation and our efforts to register voters,” Robyn Prud’homme-Bauer of the progressive establishment-aligned League of Women Voters of Arizona said of a 2014 federal appellate court ruling against a proof of citizenship law. “Citizens of Arizona can now actively participate in voter registration drives without worrying about not having proof of citizenship documents.”
A Biden federal judge nominee who serves as “Strategic Litigation Director” of the radical Southern Poverty Law Center became the subject of controversy in January when it was revealed that she had equated proof of citizenship laws to voter suppression while working for the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Daily Wire reported Nancy Gbana Abudu said in a 2011 interview with a South Carolina newspaper:
“Obviously, we do a lot when it comes to voter suppression, which includes five priority areas: photo ID, proof of citizenship, restrictions we see when it comes to registration… early voting as well as absentee voting and the restrictions we see when it comes to criminal convictions. We also do a lot with student voting.”
Republican state Rep. Jake Hoffman, a sponsor of the new Arizona voting law, says it was crafted in response to what he calls a visible rise in the number of illegal aliens trying to vote.
“In 2018, there were only 1,700 individuals who didn’t have documentary proof of citizenship on file,” Hoffman said at a March legislative committee, Courthouse News Service reports. “In 2020, there were almost 12,000. So clearly, this is a trend that is increasing. This bill ensures that there is maximum flexibility to provide documentary proof of citizenship, but we don’t want foreign interference in our elections.”
