PHOENIX — We’re looking into the question: Can non-U.S. citizens vote in our elections? This comes on the heels of a new U.S. appeals court ruling about what citizenship proof is required for voters.
The case is about Arizona voter registration. The U.S. appeals court reversed its own ruling on proof of citizenship, allowing Arizonans to register to vote in federal races without providing citizenship documents on a state form.
“Whether you use the federal or the state form, if your citizenship can be verified you will be a full ballot voter, which means you can vote in state, county, and federal elections," said ASU Election Law Professor Patty Bohnee.
She goes on to say, "If your citizenship cannot be verified and you attest that there is no information regarding your citizenship, then you only vote in federal elections.”
We asked about concerns about whether this could lead to non-citizens voting.
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“The answer is no. We're going back to the status quo, and that wasn’t happening in the past. There is no evidence of this happening, and there are procedures in place to verify citizenship status or at least ascertain if someone has been verified as a non-citizen," said Bohnee.
It's important to note, each county recorder doesn't have access to the same verification databases. It's also a Class 6 felony if it turns out you lied on the form about your citizenship.
“If it’s found that you’re not a citizen, then you have to provide some other information to verify your citizenship or else you won’t be able to vote in state or federal elections," said Bohnee.
ABC15 data analyst Garrett Archer pulled the numbers, and right now just over 42,000 voters in Arizona are federal-only voters, meaning they haven’t provided documented proof of citizenship.
