A federal judge has given state and county election officials until the end of the month to finally comply with a court order to make sure that alternate voter registration forms are readily available – forms that do not require proof of citizenship. Judge Roslyn Silver rejected claims by Attorney General Tom Horne that all election officials need to do to comply with her order is accept the federal voter registration form if someone actually finds one and fills one out. Horne said the state has no obligation to actually provide those federal forms. Instead, the judge said the state and counties “shall ensure widespread distribution of the federal form through all reasonable channels.” And she said that, by the end of the month, election officials must make that form available “where they make the state form available, including websites.”
Matt Roberts, spokesman for Secretary of State Ken Bennett, said Thursday his office already has complied with the latter half. The agency’s web site now provides a link to where the federal form can be downloaded along with the existing link to the state form. But the site still contains a blanket statement that proof of citizenship is necessary to register. And there is nothing to inform would-be voters that requirement does not apply if they choose to register with the federal form.
Roberts said he could not say whether that information would be provided. “This is an ongoing process,” he said. “We have until the end of the month.” Roberts also pointed out that Bennett disagrees with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled against the state, and has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn that decision.
Full Article: , form, federal, state – News – YumaSun.