By Laura Gómez | Arizona Capitol Times
Rep. Athena Salman, D-Tempe, will introduce legislation to amend the Arizona Constitution and add a section to explicitly state the right to vote is a fundamental right, she said during a press conference Thursday.=
Salman said the state constitution doesn’t do enough to ensure there’s a right to vote.
“The protection does simply not exist,” Salman said. “We will be seeking to amend the state constitution so that the voters of Arizona understand that the highest governing document in Arizona protects the right to vote.”
Joel Edman, executive director of the Arizona Advocacy Network — a progressive nonprofit that advocates for voting rights — pointed to a Vanderbilt Law Review article from 2014 on the right-to-vote provisions in state constitutions.
The article said the Arizona Constitution is the only one in the country that does not include explicit language granting the right to vote. Instead, it uses implicit language, the review said.
