In a stunning reversal from its ruling on July 18, in which the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said that anyone registering to vote in the state of Arizona must provide proof of citizenship to vote in all elections, the court now says that the documentation is not necessary, by 2-1, on Thursday.
Background:
The rationale, from the judges on the three-judge panel who were in the majority? The change this close to the November elections would cause “confusion and chaos”:
In its Thursday order, approved on a 2-1 vote, the court reversed last month’s decision by a “motions panel ” that blocked certain voter registrations. That panel “misunderstood the extent of confusion and chaos that would be engendered by a late-stage alteration to the status quo of Arizona’s election rules,” Judges Kim McLane Wardlaw and Ronald Gould wrote.
In dissent, Judge Patrick Bumatay “argu[ed] the earlier panel got it right. The state legislature cannot be bound by an agreement reached between a former secretary of state and the federal government without running into ‘serious separation of powers concerns,’ he wrote.” […]
– Read More: redstate.com
