After a slew of bad elections in Arizona which saw the state elect two Democrats to the U.S. Senate, and go blue in 2020, the state finally appears to be in the middle of a course correction. For months now, Donald Trump has had a solid lead in the polls in the state. His RealClearPolitics average sits at +4.5 points.
Trump's standing in the state is good enough that he appears to be bolstering Kari Lake's Senate bid. Last year, polling showed Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego beating Lake by five points, and now even Democrat-sponsored polls are showing Lake with a small lead.
While things may look good for Trump in the state now, experts are warning that a loophole in the state's election procedures could potentially allow non-citizens to vote in the presidential election.
According to a report by The Daily Caller, the Election Procedures Manual in Arizona, which was written by Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, allows individuals whose citizenship cannot be verified to register as "federal-only" voters, thus enabling them to vote in the upcoming election.
Here's what the Election Procedures Manual says:
U.S. citizenship must be sworn to when registering to vote. In addition, under Arizona’s bifurcated or dual-track voter registration system, an acceptable form of documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) is required to be registered as a “full-ballot” voter. See Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc., 570 U.S. 1 (2013). A “full-ballot” voter is entitled to vote for all federal, state, county, and local races as well as state and local ballot measures for which the voter qualifies. Ariz. Atty Gen. Op . I13-011.
An otherwise eligible registrant who does not submit DPOC (proof of citizenship) and whose U.S. citizenship cannot be verified via AZMVD records or other record in the statewide voter registration database is registered as a "federal-only" voter. A "federal-only" voter is eligible to vote solely in races for federal office in Arizona (including the Presidential Preference Election (PPE)).
According to Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, this two-tiered voter registration system could make it possible for illegal immigrants to vote.
“I think it’s absolutely a possibility because if you aren’t requiring proof of citizenship, you’re simply going on people’s word that oh yeah I’m a U.S. citizen, you’re going to get aliens who register and who vote,” von Spakovsky told The Daily Caller. “The Justice Department, they don’t prosecute these cases, even though it’s a felony under federal law for an alien to register and vote. Aliens have an incentive, a voter registration card, which you get when you register, that’s a gateway for getting other kinds of ID.”
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Ken Cuccinelli, former high-ranking official at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and national chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative (ETI), also expressed concerns.
“Adrian Fontes could have used his elections procedures manual to help close the decade-old loophole regarding non-citizen voting in Arizona elections. Instead, he made it even worse — allowing non-citizens and individuals who have failed to prove their U.S. citizenship to vote in the Presidential Preference Election in 2024,” Cuccinelli told The Daily Caller.
Meanwhile, millions of illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border on Joe Biden's watch.
