South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson joined a coalition of 24 states asking the Supreme Court to hear a case to confirm that states can make rules governing their own elections, including requiring voters to show proof of citizenship.
Arizona passed a law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked enforcement of that law. This friend-of-the-court brief asks the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the Ninth Circuit’s ruling.
“This would seem like common sense. If only citizens can vote, what’s wrong with requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote?” asks Attorney General Wilson. “This is about safeguarding the integrity of our elections.”The brief argues that the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) does not prohibit states from ensuring that only citizens register to vote and that it doesn’t preempt a state’s right to regulate its presidential elections or to restrict how states conduct elections.Many states require that voters be United States citizens. However, the courts have chipped away at states’ authority to secure their own elections.“Voting by noncitizens, both legal and illegal, is real. The typical rejoinder is to claim that few noncitizens vote. On its own terms, though, the answer at least acknowledges that the problem persists. But it also ignores that even small voting blocs can have outsized effects on electoral outcomes. That effect is most obvious in local elections,” the brief reads.Attorney General Wilson is joined on the amicus brief, led by Kansas and West Virginia, by attorneys general in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
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