HB 2753
Initials JH Page 1 Municipal Oversight & Elections
ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Fifty-sixth Legislature
Second Regular Session
HB 2753: voter registration rolls; auditor general
Sponsor: Representative Gillette, LD 30
Committee on Municipal Oversight & Elections
Overview
Directs the Auditor General to conduct an analysis of the statewide voter registration system
and instructs the Auditor General, Secretary of State and County Recorders to issue specified
reports.
History
Arizona School Boards Association v. State of Arizona
Laws 2021, Chapter 405 § 4 instructed the election integrity unit of the Attorney General's
office to conduct an analysis of the statewide voter registration system to determine whether
the Secretary of State's voter registration list maintenance procedures, related to federal only
voters, comply with federal law. Additionally, the bill required the County Recorders to
submit annual reports to the Legislature containing certain information, such as their
procedures for registering federal only voters. In 2022, the Arizona Supreme Court struck
down this law for violating the Arizona Constitution's title requirement (Arizona School
Boards Association v. State of Arizona)
DPOC and Federal Only Voters
A person must be a United States citizen to register to vote pursuant to federal law and the
Arizona Constitution (Ariz. Const. Art. VII § 2, 18 U.S.C. § 611). In 2004, Arizona voters
passed Proposition 200 which required, in part, County Recorders to reject voter registration
forms that are not accompanied by sufficient evidence of citizenship, or Documentary Proof
of Citizenship (DPOC). Proposition 200 also defined the acceptable methods or documents
that prove citizenship, such as the presentation of a driver license or nonoperating
identification license that was issued after October 1, 1996, or providing a photocopy of one's
birth certificate (A.R.S. §§ 16-152, 16-166).
In 2013, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Arizona must accept and use the federal
voter registration form to register voters for federal office. This led to Arizona's bifurcated
voter registration system where voters who provide an acceptable form of DPOC are
registered as full ballot voters, while registrants who are otherwise eligible to vote but do not
provide DPOC are registered as federal only voters (Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of
Arizona, I13-011).
Provisions
1. Repeals statute requiring the Secretary of State to provide access to the statewide voter
registration system to the Auditor General's election integrity unit for specified purposes.
(Sec. 1)
☐ Prop 105 (45 votes) ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes) ☐ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal Note HB 2753
Initials JH Page 2 Municipal Oversight & Elections
2. Directs the Secretary of State to provide access to the statewide voter registration
database to the Auditor General to determine whether the Secretary of State's voter
registration list maintenance procedures comply with federal law concerning federal only
voters. (Sec. 2)
3. Requires the legislature to appropriate sufficient monies to the Auditor General to
conduct the analysis outlined above at least annually. (Sec. 2)
4. Instructs the Auditor General to submit a report of its findings to specified members of
the legislature, the Attorney General and the Secretary of State. (Sec. 2)
5. Requires, if the analysis discovers ineligible persons registered to vote, the Secretary of
State must notify the appropriate County Recorder and the County Recorder must remove
the ineligible voters from the voter registration rolls. (Sec. 2)
6. Directs the County Recorders to submit an annual report to specified members of the
legislature that contains:
a) a description of their procedures for registering federal only voters;
b) the number of registered federal only voters in that county;
c) the number of registered voters whose citizenship was subsequently verified and the
voter became eligible to vote a full ballot;
d) a comprehensive description of the obstacles to obtaining registrant's documentary
proof of citizenship; and
e) the number of federal only voters who have been subsequently determined to be
ineligible to vote and removed from the voter registration rolls. (Sec. 2)
7. Instructs the Secretary of State to conduct a separate audit of the statewide voter
registration database to ensure the accuracy of voter registration data. (Sec. 2)
8. Specifies the audit referenced above must be completed before December 31 each year.
(Sec. 2)
9. Requires the Secretary of State to submit a report containing the number of voter
registration removals, the locations of the removed registrants and the reasons for
removals to specified members of the legislature and the Attorney General by March 1
each year. (Sec. 2)
10. Directs the Attorney General and the County Attorneys to investigate and prosecute, as
appropriate, any person who is ineligible to register to vote and who knowingly registers
to vote. (Sec. 2)