The 9th Court of Appeals reversed its decision on Thursday, allowing Arizona residents to once again register to vote in federal elections without having to prove their citizenship.
It’s another dizzying twist in the legal battle over a 2022 law that ultimately aims to roll back part of the National Voter Registration Act and require all Arizona voters to show proof of citizenship to register to vote.
The order opens a path for potential voters who two weeks ago were barred from using the state’s voter registration form to register to vote unless they could provide proof of U.S. citizenship. It comes with two months to go until the Oct. 7 registration deadline for the high-stakes presidential election.
The order means that people can once again use the state-issued voter registration form even if they can’t provide proof of citizenship. Instead, they declare under penalty of perjury that they are citizens and will be eligible to vote only in federal races.
In the first 10 days after the July 18 ruling requiring written proof, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office rejected 200 voter applications.
On Thursday, the Arizona Secretary of State’s office made clear the impact of the ruling.
“Election officials may not reject voter registration applications submitted without a DPOC, regardless of the form used,” said communications director Aaron Thacker. DPOC is short for Documentary Proof of Citizenship.
Senate Majority Leader Warren Petersen vowed to file an emergency motion with the U.S. Supreme Court “to ensure that only American citizens vote in our elections.”
Petersen, along with House Speaker Ben Toma, have defended the proof of citizenship law since it passed in 2022 and were challenged almost immediately. The two Republican legislative leaders are being joined in the effort by the Republican National Committee.
Two weeks ago, Petersen and Toma celebrated the ruling that blocked registrations without proof of citizenship. But on Thursday night, Petersen said the reversal is “yet another example of why the radical 9th Circuit is the most overturned circuit in the country.”
He acknowledged his praise from two weeks ago. “If someone does well, he deserves praise. A broken clock is right twice a day.”
Lawyers for the civil rights groups opposing the law did not respond to requests for comment Thursday evening.
In its Thursday order, approved by a 2-1 vote, the court reversed last month’s decision by a motions panel that blocked certain voter registrations. That panel “failed to appreciate the level of confusion and chaos that would result from a belated change to the status quo of Arizona’s election rules,” Justices Kim McLane Wardlaw and Ronald Gould wrote.
But Justice Patrick Bumatay disagreed, arguing that the earlier panel was correct. The state legislature cannot be bound by an agreement reached between a former secretary of state and the federal government without running into “serious separation of powers concerns,” he wrote.
That agreement established a dual-track registration system, where voters who can provide proof of citizenship are eligible to vote in all elections, from local to federal. Voters who cannot provide proof of citizenship, however, are designated as “federal only” and can vote only in presidential and congressional elections.
Contact the reporter via maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com or call 602-228-7566 and follow her on Threads and on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @maryjpitzl.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Voter Registration Rules Overturned in Latest Court Ruling
