“Tribes Challenge Proof of Address Requirements in Arizona”

NARF:

On November 7, 2022, the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Gila River Indian Community filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona challenging the proof of address requirements included in Arizona H.B. 2492. Under the new law, individuals must provide a government-issued photo ID that contains or is paired with another document that contains the person’s current physical address, or the individual must provide two documents that contain their current physical address.

The requirements ignore the lack of standardized addressing on homes on tribal lands in Arizona, which will make it difficult if not impossible for many tribal members to register to vote. Homes on tribal reservations in Arizona are significantly more likely to lack a standard physical address than homes in non-Native areas. The lack of postal delivery also means most residents of the two tribes’ reservations do not have any documents that include both their name and an address corresponding with the physical location of their home.

If Arizona implements the new requirement, most people who lack a standard physical address on their home will be completely unable to register to vote. Others who lack a standard physical address will be unable to vote until obtaining a standard street address for their home—a severely burdensome process, beyond the control of the individual, that can take years, or even decades.

The new restrictions do not comply with federal voter registration requirements in the National Voter Registration Act. That law requires states to use the federal voter registration form for federal elections.

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