Will SCOTUS gavel out these Arizona voters?

Hi readers! Welcome back to Republic Recount.

The nation's highest court is expected to decide this week whether it will grant an emergency stay that would limit the voting rights of Arizonans who sign up to cast ballots without providing proof of citizenship — a pivotal choice that could impact the presidential race and the future of Arizona's voter registration requirements .

The petition in front of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan comes from state and national Republicans. It's part of a larger legal battle raging in Arizona over voter registration laws .

Nationwide, registration forms require voters to attest that they are American citizens. They can face criminal charges if they lie about it. Arizona is the only state that also requires voters to hand over a birth certificate, a passport or another document proving their citizenship.

But not everybody has such documents, creating a unique, two-track system in our battleground state. Voters who prove citizenship can vote a full ballot. Voters who don't must vote in a limited one that only includes presidential and congressional contests.

Most of those voters are likely American citizens. Studies have shown that voter fraud is rare , and a recent analysis found these voters are disproportionately young people on college campuses who are likely without access to their citizenship documents. They are also subject to checks via various government agencies as election officials maintain voter rolls. If they are found to be noncitizens, they are removed from the lists.

However, Republican leaders now seek to enforce provisions of a recent state law that would further tighten voter requirements. Going forward, they would reject voters who use certain forms to register without proof of citizenship, prevent voters who haven't shown documents from voting for president and bar them from voting via mail.

Only about 42,000 Arizonans — 1% of registered voters in the state — are considered "federal-only" voters. But the legal petition hits during a key period for voter registration before the high-stakes presidential election, a race in which every vote could be key to the outcome. In 2020, the contest was decided by under 11,000 votes.

Kagan could choose to grant the emergency stay, a move that would have immediate ramifications for the presidential contest and likely prompt other conservative states to start thinking about revamping their own voter registration laws.

She could reject the stay but suggest the full court should consider the issue, signaling possible impacts on future elections.

Or, she could reject the application outright, ending this particular legal challenge. But there are still several cases in lower courts that deal with similar issues , meaning the fight is far from over.

Ballots must be printed well in advance of Election Day, so we shouldn't have to wait long for Kagan's decision. Her suggested deadline is Thursday.

Here's what else I'm reading

• Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly sat down with reporter Ron Hansen last week to discuss his moment in the vice presidential spotlight, the state of top-of-the-ballot races in Arizona and what's next for him. Take a look at their conversation .
• An Arizona county official who fought off threats and defended election results will take on a new role to preserve democracy from the nation's epicenter of election denialism. I've got the scoop .
• Arizona is quickly becoming a problem state for Republican Donald Trump's campaign, political consultants tell reporter Stephanie Murray. Here's why he's losing ground .
• Mesa, a suburb of Phoenix and the third-largest city in Arizona, is a study in political contrasts. The latest episode of The Gaggle, The Arizona Republic's political podcast, analyzes its ongoing mayoral race and explains why it's one to watch .

Politics isn't all serious. Here's some battleground state banter

A legal dispute between Republican Kari Lake and a local election official recently took a funny turn.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer has been fighting for records as his defamation case against Lake proceeds to a damages hearing, and local conservative activist Merissa Hamilton was one of several people he subpoenaed for documents.

She complied, producing 100,000 printed pages of records and quoting Richer's attorneys about $32,000 in clerical costs. That set off a quarrel over whether her delivery method was the result of a miscommunication or an intentional act of malicious compliance.

Last week, Judge Randall Warner said the documents should have been produced in digital form, but he could see how Hamilton could have been confused. Therefore, Richer must pay about $25,000 in copying costs — 25 cents per page.

He'll get away without paying $7,000 for labor. Warner said Hamilton requested payment for "an unreasonable amount of time to spend on producing documents."

That's it for today

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Have questions or feedback? Drop me a line at sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com . Or, shoot me a message on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, @SashaHupka . I'm also on Threads, @sashahupkasnaps .

I'll see you next week. More of our coverage is linked below. Thanks for reading!

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Will SCOTUS gavel out these Arizona voters?