Op-Ed: Only citizens should decide Arizona’s political future

Liberal activists are celebrating last week’s ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that blocked parts of Arizona’s 2022 election security law. As reported by The Arizona Republic, the two judges who reversed a July decision favoring the restrictions were concerned about “confusion and chaos” caused “by a late-stage” change to “Arizona’s election rules.”

As a longtime Arizona resident, I appreciate the desire to have consistent, understandable voting laws. But the justices have it backwards – it’s those who sued to overturn the law who are creating chaos – not just in 2024, but in every single election that doesn’t ensure that only citizens vote.

Progressive activists may not like it, but audits in swing states like Ohio and Georgia have found that non-citizens do register to vote. And while the wider issue of illegal voting is bitterly debated, peer-reviewed research that has withstood aggressive scrutiny shows that it does happen and can be enough to swing close elections. Illegally registering to vote is a federal crime, and using a fake ID to do so violates another federal law.

Arizona had enough election drama in 2020, between allegations of fraud and an election for attorney general that was decided by a mere 280 votes. A simple fix to require voter IDs in federal elections seems like the logical fix that would have prevented many of those concerns from taking literally years to resolve – including the electors prosecution that is still ongoing.

And contrary to activists’ claims, being pro-citizen voting does not equal being anti-immigrant. Indeed, immigrants are an essential part of the fabric of America and have been since colonists first landed at Jamestown in 1607. Living in a border state, Arizonans know this better than anyone. Noncitizens are a valuable part of our community, they always will be, and no voting law is going to change that.

But residence and citizenship are two different things, and only those with citizenship status – whether born in the U.S. or naturalized – should be eligible to cast a vote.

Citizenship affirms that a voter is either a natural-born American who has lived here their entire life or an immigrant who has made a solemn and binding commitment to America. It is this affirmation of commitment to America and to our fellow Americans that binds us together and grants democracy its legitimacy.

Why would we want people to vote – here in Arizona or anywhere else – if they haven’t made that commitment?

We wouldn’t – and extreme far-left activists know it. Despite their hysterical rhetoric, activists know that noncitizens are already blocked by law from voting and that requiring someone to prove citizenship isn’t going to deter him from voting.

Indeed, they talk out of both sides of their mouths on this issue. First, they claim that non-citizen voting is extremely rare on top of being officially illegal and that additional legislation to prevent non-citizen voting isn’t needed.

Then they say that we don’t need laws proving people are citizens. Which is it? Is noncitizen voting so rare that legislators are chasing ghosts by trying to stop it, or are large numbers of potential voters going to get disenfranchised because they cannot provide adequate ID when registering to vote?

It cannot be both, just like having a law that people under 21 cannot purchase alcohol also needed a law requiring retailers to verify purchasers’ ages. Without the law the Ninth Circuit first partially upheld, and then blocked, noncitizens could register to vote and cast a ballot, and the only remedy would come after an election – if it came at all.

Why take the risk when we’ve long known that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?

Federal law already prohibits non-citizens from voting – even if they are here legally – and has since 1996. Some states changed their constitutions as early as 1902 to ensure that non-citizens could not vote in state elections and – according to the non-partisan researchers at Ballotpedia – no state constitution explicitly allows for non-citizens to vote. That’s why it is both reasonable and logical to require anyone registering to vote in federal elections in Arizona to provide proof of citizenship – not just an attestation and the state form.

National elections are increasingly decided by razor-thin margins in only a handful of states and legislative districts. This means that more than ever, every vote counts, and even a few illegitimate votes could have a major impact.

Unfortunately for Arizona and America, the Ninth Circuit Court’s goal to reduce chaos and confusion is going to have the opposite effect – and result in less trust in our state’s elections. State leaders should immediately appeal this decision by the nation’s most overturned Circuit Court to the U.S. Supreme Court.