Besides potentially purging valid voters, the law would “frighten Arizona’s voters of color and naturalized voters from registering,
By Ray Stern || TheArizona Republic
A federal judge halted the rollout of a new election law demanding the removal of invalid voters from county voter rolls after opponents said it targeted people of color.
House Bill 2243, sponsored by Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, was supposed to take effect Sept. 24. It would have required county officials to attempt to confirm any information they received that a voter registration wasn’t valid.
The bill passed weeks after Gov. Doug Ducey vetoed similar measures in a legislative session that saw a flurry of more than 100 bills by Republicans attempting to change the election system because of concerns over Trump’s failure to win the 2020 election. Most of them never came to fruition or could not find enough votes to pass due to several Republicans who rebelled against their peers.
If House Bill 2243 took effect this month, it would allow enough time to “purge voters” just before the start of early voting in October, said in an Aug. 25 court motion by the Arizona Asian American Native Hawaiian And Pacific Islander For Equity Coalition, a local nonprofit civil rights group.
Besides potentially purging valid voters, the law would “frighten Arizona’s voters of color and naturalized voters from registering, including by threat of criminal investigation if they simply are unable to quickly provide (proof of citizenship),” the coalition’s motion stated.
