AZ GOP seek to void law allowing people who have never lived in AZ to vote in local elections

By Howard Fischer | AZ Capitol Times

Key Points:

• Uniform Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act, allows Arizona residents who are out of the country to vote
• Plaintiffs said AZ lawmakers acted illegal in extending voting privilege to children of AZ residents living abroad
• GOP lawyer claims law on children of AZ residents voting, puts Republicans at disadvantage

An attorney for the Arizona Republican Party is asking a judge to void a 20-year-old law that allows some people who have never lived in the state to vote in elections.

At an Oct. 20 hearing, Kory Langhofer did not dispute that the law was approved unanimously by the Republican-controlled Legislature. And he acknowledged that federal law, known as the Uniform Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act, clearly allows Arizona residents who are out of the country to cast a ballot.

But Langhofer told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Herrod that lawmakers acted illegally when they extended that right to the children of those Arizona residents living elsewhere — including those who never have set foot on Arizona soil — in 2005.

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