A little over a week ago, I wrote about the astonishing move by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn its ruling on Arizona’s voter registration law, which requires anyone who cannot provide proof of citizenship to vote only in the state.
The reasoning of the three-member panel of judges who were in the majority? The change so shortly before the November elections would cause “Confusion and chaos”:
In its decision, adopted by a 2-1 vote on Thursday, the court overturned a decision last month by a “petition panel” that had blocked certain voter registrations. That panel “failed to recognize the extent of the confusion and chaos that would result from a late change to the status quo of Arizona’s election rules,” wrote Justices Kim McLane Wardlaw and Ronald Gould.
In his dissenting opinion, Justice Patrick Bumatay argued:[ed] the former panel was right. State legislation could not be bound by an agreement between a former foreign minister and the federal government without raising ‘stern concerns about the separation of powers,’ he wrote.”
Read more: AMAZING: Ninth Circuit reverses its ruling on voter registration and proof of citizenship in Arizona
As I reported, Arizona’s Republican-majority legislature reacted quickly to the ruling, declaring that the case would be sent to the U.S. Supreme Court on an expedited basis to protect our state’s election results from illegal voters or voter fraud:
Senate President Warren Petersen announced that he would seek an extraordinary stay from the U.S. Supreme Court “to ensure that only American citizens vote in our elections.”
Now Petersen has made good on his promise. He will join the call of the Speaker of the State House of Representatives, Ben Toma, and the Republican National Committee (RNC):
The Republican National Committee (RNC) asked the Supreme Court to take urgent action to revive an Arizona state law that requires voter registration applicants to provide proof of citizenship when using a state form.
The motion, filed Friday, also calls for reinstating Arizona’s ban on voting in presidential elections or by mail if someone has not met the requirements to prove their citizenship – regardless of whether they used the state or federal form.
That last part – voting by mail – is a huge deal in the Copper State, as many Arizona residents register to vote by mail. Accordingly Arizona’s Clean Elections Commission,”[i]In the 2020 general election, about 89% of the votes cast were early votes.” It is clear that enshrining this provision in law could aid reduce the risk of fraud.
Just a few statistics: At the time of this writing, Maricopa County, the state’s most populous county, has 14,220 dynamic “state-only” registrations out of approximately 2.4 million dynamic voters. accordingly the Recorder’s Office website.
The request to the Supreme Court judges states in part:
“The district court’s preliminary injunction represents an unprecedented abrogation of the Arizona Legislature’s sovereign authority to determine voter qualifications and structure participation in its elections.”
But time is running out for a response. As noted in the request, Arizona needs to get this resolved immediately before August 22, as ballots will be printed shortly thereafter.
You can read the full request Here.
This is a developing story. RedState will provide updates as they become available.
