Supreme Court grants GOP bid to require citizenship proof for some Arizona voters

The U.S. Supreme Court is allowing Arizona to enforce for now part of a new state law that requires election officials to reject any state voter registration forms that are submitted without the applicants’ proof of U.S. citizenship.

The high court, however, has rejected the Republican National Committee’s request to block what could have been tens of thousands of registered voters in Arizona from voting in this fall’s presidential election.

The high court’s order, released Thursday, is part of a legal fight over voter registration requirements in the key swing state, where in 2020, President Biden defeated former President Donald Trump with just over 10,000 votes.

The ruling comes before what is expected to be a close presidential election — and amid a growing GOP push for voters to show proof of their U.S. citizenship when signing up to cast a ballot in federal elections, which many election experts warn could make voting more difficult for many eligible voters.

Arizona has a complicated, two-track system for registering voters, which stems from a decades-long dispute over the need for proof of citizenship.

State law requires showing documentary proof when registering to vote in state and local elections. But for federal elections, the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that the state had to accept and use a standard federal form required by the National Voter Registration Act. That form does not require proof but calls for applicants to swear under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens.

In 2022, however, Arizona’s GOP-controlled legislature passed a new law that bans registered voters who have not provided proof of their citizenship from voting in presidential elections or by mail for any federal office.

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