PHOENIX — Arizona has unique laws when it comes to documented proof of citizenship in order to vote. In fact, it is the only state that requires documented proof of citizenship to vote in state and local elections.
On Monday, Elon Musk said on his X account that Arizona allows those without proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections, but that claim needs context.
Arizona voters must provide documentation or attest to citizenship status under penalty of perjury
Federal law states all voters in the United States must be U.S. citizens to vote and must attest to that by marking a checkbox on their voter registration form. This is how other states also operate voter registration.
However, all voters in Arizona must give documented proof of citizenship to vote in state or local elections, which is different from all other states. Those without documented proof are put on the federal-only voting list and must attest to their citizenship status under penalty of perjury.
Federal law requires Arizona to allow voters without proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections
The original proof of citizenship law in Arizona, which was enacted in 2004, required election officials to reject registration forms that did not come with documented proof of citizenship.
Then, in 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, under the Voting Rights Act — which doesn’t require documentation — Arizona had to let these voters vote in federal elections, the nonprofit Votebeat Arizona reported. This required Arizona to create the "federal-only" list of voters, which was comprised of those without the proper documentation who could only vote in federal elections. Again, all of those voters still must attest under penalty of perjury to their citizenship status.
College students make up majority of federal-only voters
Most of the people on the federal-only list are college students who do not have immediate access to documents like birth certificates or Arizona IDs, data crunched by Votebeat shows.
"Most precincts that have at least one federal-only voter have fewer than a few dozen total. But of the dozen outliers with more than 300 federal-only voters, all but one are located at least partly on a college campus," the Votebeat analysis said.
It is possible that some of the voters on the federal-only list may not be U.S. citizens but it is rare for noncitizens to be caught voting illegally, data from the Arizona Attorney General's Office shows. Since 2010, the Attorney General's Office has not convicted or prosecuted any noncitizen for voting in an election.
So, by federal law, Arizona must allow those without documented proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. Data shows most of those voters are college students without Arizona IDs, and those federal-only voters must attest to their citizenship under penalty of perjury on federal documents.
It is a federal crime to vote in a federal election in the U.S. if that person is not a citizen.
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