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Large number of voter registration forms rejected by county
Associated Press
May. 6, 2005 07:30 AM

TUCSON - Pima County election officials have been forced to reject an unprecedented number of voter registration forms because of failure to provide proof of citizenship.

Registrar of Voters Chris Roads said that over the last two weeks, the county has rejected 423 of the 712 registration forms it has received from prospective new voters - 59 percent of them.

"We rejected none during the same period last year," when six times as many people were registering because of the presidential election, Roads said. "There was nothing in the law that required a rejection."

The citizenship requirements were contained in Proposition 200, the anti-illegal- immigration initiative passed by Arizona voters last November.

Since the proposition went into effect in January, new voters have been required to prove they are citizens with a passport, a birth certificate, naturalization papers, tribal documents or a driver's license issued after October 1996.

Voters who submit registration forms to change their name, address or party affiliation are exempt.

Roads said most voter registration forms rejected by the county since April 20, when officials started keeping track, were submitted by new voters who provided no valid proof of citizenship whatsoever.

Eleven people provided incomplete driver's license information.

New voter registration forms that include Proposition 200's citizenship requirements are awaiting approval from the U.S. Justice Department and are expected to be available in mid-June, according to Roads.

State elections officials expect the new forms to go a long way in making sure people know what is needed to join the state's 2.6 million voters.

"We recognized there was going to be some potential confusion," said Assistant Secretary of State Kevin Tyne. "People are still learning about the new rules."

Judi White, chairwoman of the Pima County Republican Party, praised county officials for notifying voters their registration forms are incomplete but said that puts the responsibility on voters to re-register with the needed documentation