This week, the Republican National Committee (RNC) submitted a request to the Supreme Court asking to allow a paused Arizona law regarding citizenship verification to be enacted.
The organization addressed the question to Obama-appointed Justice Elena Kagan, asking if she would block a ruling from a lower court which has stalled the effective date of a law previously passed in the Grand Canyon State. It comes three months ahead of the 2024 presidential election, which promises to be a tight race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.
And states like Arizona could hold the key to deciding who wins. But since the last presidential election in 2020, controversy has boiled surrounding accurate voting counts in the state. That year, President Joe Biden won in Arizona, but some Trump supporters adamantly maintained that there were mistakes in the ballot counting process.
A group of them went so far as to sign a document in favor of the claim that Trump had actually won the most votes, presenting themselves as official electors. But that didn’t end well for anyone involved. In April, a total of 18 Republicans—including former Trump aides and attorneys—were indicted on charges related to conspiracy, forgery, and fraud.
The context of the 2020 scandal makes the Arizona law all the more applicable before the November presidential election. In 2022, the bill was passed and required people to prove their citizenship when registering to vote. An exemption was in place for residents who register through a federal form.
Per the law, voters who do not provide proof of citizenship—meaning, those who register through a state form rather than a federal one—prior to voting in an election will have their votes disregarded. However, a federal district judge put the law on hold after deciding that it violated a settlement between Arizona and immigrant-rights activists that was reached in 2018.
Michael Whatley, chair of the RNC, has said that the 2022 law is “common sense” and must be enacted to maintain “integrity” during elections. He added that disregarding the citizenship verification process would open the door for noncitizens to “sneak” ballots into the official count, “nullifying the votes” of citizens.
Ballots will be printed by August 22, leaving Arizona to finalize its decision in the coming weeks.
