Arizona’s Prop. 309 to add new voter ID requirements barely trailing
A ballot measure that would increase ID requirements for all types of voting is trailing, but just barely, as additional election returns continue to post.
Proposition 309, which lawmakers sent to the ballot, would tighten identification requirements for voters, both those who vote by mail and those who vote at the polls on Election Day.
Full election results may not be available for several days. Early results can flip as later votes are counted.
If it passes, early voters would get an extra piece of paper — an affidavit — in their ballot packet. The affidavit would require the voter’s driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number, their date of birth and their signature.
If the ballot were returned to elections offices without the affidavit, voters would have an opportunity to fill it out. But without the affidavit, a vote would not get counted.
Election Day coverage: Live voting updates | Arizona election results
Currently, voters who use vote by mail sign the back of the envelope in which their ballot is returned and elections officials compare that to their signature on the voter registration rolls.
For in-person voters, a non-expired photo identification would become a must. Currently, voters can produce two pieces of non-photographic evidence in lieu of a photo ID. The measure requires a current photo ID, such as a driver’s license or a tribal ID issued by a tribal government.
The photo ID would have to display an address that matches the voter’s address on the voter registration rolls. If that is not the case — for example, passports don’t have the owner’s address — the voter would have to show other forms of ID, such as a utility bill, a credit card bill or another document that shows their current address.
The proposal comes in the wake of the 2020 election and growing suspicions of ballot fraud among mail-in ballots, despite any evidence showing any wide-scale problems.
It passed the Legislature along partisan lines, with Republicans arguing it would provide assurance that a voter is not casting a fraudulent ballot; Democrats said it would create unnecessary hoops for voters and that Arizona’s ID requirements are strong as is.
Fourteen of the 15 county recorders in Arizona oppose the measure, arguing it would create extra steps for voter identification that are unnecessary to secure elections. David Stevens of Cochise County is the only recorder supporting Proposition 309.
Reach the reporter at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @maryjpitzl.
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