Arizona Advocacy Network

Promoting Justice for All

Arizona's History of Denying Citizens the Right to Vote
When Native American soldiers returned home to Arizona after World War II, they learned that although their country gladly accepted their service, they were still barred from voting. It wasn't until 1948 that the Arizona Supreme Court overturned prior court rulings and the right to vote was extended to Native Americans. (Read more about this on the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona's Web site). However, literacy tests and other barriers continued to bar most Indians from voting for another 17 years. During the fifties and sixties, voter intimidation and deception tactics were used to suppress Latino votes as well.

Like Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia and a few other states, Arizona's shameful record for voter suppression earned our state special consideration in the National Voting Rights Act of 1965. Any change to voting laws and procedures must be pre-cleared by the US Department of Justice to ensure that the proposed change does not have the purpose and will not have the effect of discriminating based on race or color.

Frustrated with the inability of the Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, Arizonans passed a sweeping anti-immigrant ballot initiative in November of 2004. The measure was sold to voters as a way to stop undocumented immigrants from taking advantage of taxpayer-funded state benefits. Backers of the "Arizona Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act," commonly known as "Prop 200," also claimed that undocumented immigrants were risking their lives crossing Arizona's harsh deserts so that they could vote illegally in our elections.

There is no evidence that the crime of Voter Fraud exists. (Remember the 2004 gubernatorial race in the state of Washington that was decided by 129 votes out of more than 2.6 million? Every ballot was counted and re-counted under the watchful eyes of representatives from each candidate, who were ready to disqualify any questionable ballot. There were two or three cases of people voting twice. No voter fraud was found.) In the case of undocumented immigrants, it defies common sense. Setting aside the ridiculous notion that undocumented immigrants care so much about voting in American elections that they will risk everything to do so, people in the country without legal papers do not want to be discovered. They avoid government agencies. Yet Prop 200 included the most restrictive voting barriers since the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Arizonans Must Present Documentary Proof-of-Citizenship to Register to Vote.
Prior to passage of Prop 200, an Arizona citizen could register to vote by affirming with her/his signature, under penalty of perjury, that she/he was indeed a United States citizen. Now, anyone wishing to register to vote in Arizona must present documentary proof-of-citizenship. Arizonans moving from one county to another within the state must present documentary proof-of-citizenship. Those registered to vote at the time the law was passed were grandfathered in—they did not need to re-register with proof-of-citizenship.
The following documents are acceptable to the state of Arizona to prove citizenship:
  • State-certified birth certificate showing correct name; a marriage certificate may also be necessary. Registrations have been denied because the applicants presented hospital-issued birth certificates. Obtaining a state-certified birth certificate can take months.
  • Valid Arizona Driver’s License or Non-Operating ID issued after October 1, 1996
  • Current U.S. Passport
  • Certificate of Naturalization
  • Tribal identification, Bureau of Indian Affairs card number, tribal treaty card number or tribal enrollment number

Collateral Damage: For many elderly, disabled, low-income citizens, and/or young people the cost and burden of obtaining these documents is prohibitive. They are barred from voting in Arizona.
The cost of obtaining these documents ranges from $10 to more than $100. (Poll taxes of any sort were banned with the ratification of the 24th amendment in 1964, but the courts have decided that these financial barriers to voting do not qualify as poll taxes.) For people living on fixed incomes, even $1 is too much to pay. Many do not possess the documents necessary to obtain these documents. They will not be able to register to vote in Arizona. You can meet some of these people by clicking here.

Arizonans Must Present Identification in Order to Vote at the Polls.
Prior to passage of Prop 200, pollworkers would locate a voter’s name on the rolls and the voter would sign the book, thereby ensuring that no other person could impersonate that voter at the polls. Now anyone voting at the polls must produce proof-of-identity. Here is a quintessential solution in search of a problem. There have been no cases of voter impersonation ever prosecuted in Arizona. The options for ID at the polls include:
  • One government issued photo-identification showing voter’s correct name and address. (Passports may not be used because they do not show the voter’s address.)
    OR
  • Two pieces of non-photo ID showing the voter’s correct name and address. Acceptable documents include:
    • Bank statements dated within the past 90 days
    • Utility bills dated within the past 90 days. (Remember, these must have the voter’s name and address on them. Utility bills showing a spouse’s or room-mate’s name will not suffice.)
    • Vehicle insurance and/or registration cards
    • Property tax statement
    • Any piece of mail sent from the County Recorder’s office to the voter by name. (These may include sample ballots, polling place notification cards, voter registration cards.)
    • Tribal ID
Once again, the elderly, disabled, low-income citizens and young people are far less likely to have any of these items.
Interestingly those that use Arizona’s vote-by-mail option are not required to present proof-of-identity. For these voters, the tried-and-true signature comparison is considered adequate proof-of-identity.

Disparate Impact on People of Color
Studies show that Anglos vote by mail at rates of 55 percent or greater. For Latinos, the rate drops to 15 percent, and it’s even lower for Native Americans. There is no question that Arizona's ID-at-the-polls requirement has a disparate, adverse impact on people of color.