Arizonans would have to prove their citizenship in order to vote and receive certain state and local government services under an initiative proposed for the 2004 general election ballot.

Protect Arizona Now received its initiative serial number (I-03-2004) on July 7 on its application filed with the Secretary of State’s Office. Kathy McKee of Glendale is chair of Protect Arizona Now, while automobile dealer Rusty Childress is serving as treasurer. Named as senior advisers to the group are House Majority Whip Randy Graf, R-Dist. 30, and House Appropriations Chairman Russell Pearce, R-Dist. 18.

The group has until July 1, 2004, to collect the 122,612 valid signatures of registered voters necessary to make the November 2004 ballot.

The initiative drive was announced at a news conference on July 8, which was immediately followed by a news conference of opponents of the measure. Supporters and opponents attended both events, which were punctuated by applause, cheers, boos and heckling.

Governor Napolitano was among those who expressed their opposition.

What The Proposed Initiative Says

The summary of the initiative reads:

“The Arizona Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act amends [Arizona Revised Statutes] to require registrants applying to vote in Arizona to submit evidence of their United States citizenship with the application. This Act also requires state and local governments and their agencies that administer state and local benefits that are not federally mandated to verify applicants’ identity, immigration status, and eligibility of applicants; to accept only immigration-status-verified identification; cooperate with other state agencies to verify immigration status of applicants, and to report to federal immigration authorities any violation of federal immigration law by any applicant for benefits.”

Ms. McKee said in a prepared statement: “State and local officials — especially the current governor, Phoenix City Council and Tucson City Council — seem determined to tax citizens to death and run our entire state into perpetual bankruptcy supporting people who legally should be deported. So we, the citizens of this state, have no other choice but to pursue and pass this initiative.”

Mr. Childress said, “The people of Arizona have heard more than enough of state and local officials’ lame excuse that illegal immigration is a federal problem.

“Clearly, the federal government is endangering the whole country by not putting the military on our own borders like the vast majority of Americans want done, but a lot of the underlying problem is that state and local governments have created a mammoth welfare state — illegally, with taxpayers money — that attracts illegals here,” Mr. Childress said. “These traitorous bureaucrats thumb their noses at their legal constituents and blatantly violate laws, even U.S. Supreme Court decisions. If elected leaders don’t have the courage or integrity to stop this nonsense right now, the citizens of this state do have it and will stop it.”

Ms. Napolitano said: “…any initiative that attempts to divide Arizonans one against another, I have some concerns about. Immigration is a federal issue, and I don’t know that we should convert every public employee as an adjunct of the INS….”

“I served almost 10 years as both U.S. attorney and attorney general and handled many election law matters in those positions and was never presented with a case where someone was using a false identity in order to vote,” Ms. Napolitano said. “So, I don’t know what problems that [proposed initiative] is attempting to solve.

“Beyond that, half the voters vote by mail, and this kind of measure would not even address that, and we’re trying to encourage people to vote by mail and get voter turnout up,” the governor said.

“This initiative deserves some deep analysis,” Ms. Napolitano said. “I haven’t read it yet, and my comments should be taken in that context. A lot of the things that people are frustrated about are federally required. The problem is the federal government doesn’t reimburse us without proper documentation” for emergency medical care, for example. “We are required to provide K-12 education, and we don’t get reimbursed for that.”

‘Bad Idea,’ Opponents Say

Rep. Steve Gallardo, D-Dist. 13, is among the opponents of the proposed initiative. He said the measure contains much of the language of H2345, a measure the governor vetoed on June 26.

“I don’t know what’s the worst part of this bad idea, the voter ID or the services ID,” Mr. Gallardo said. “We’ve seen most of this voter ID language before. It would have a chilling effect on voter rights in minority and rural communities.

“Beyond that, it’s expensive, cumbersome, silly, unnecessary and just bad policy, and the truth is, the [U.S.] Justice Department will invalidate this because it tramples on the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” Mr. Gallardo said. “Why spend money to vote on a bad system with no purpose, only to have it invalidated by the Justice Department or overturned by the courts?”

“Their services ID component is just as bad,” Mr. Gallardo said. “Each and every public agency, from Department of Health to your local fire department, must verify your identification every time you need services under this proposed law. It’s hard to believe, but that means if your house is on fire, before the fire fighters run a single hose, they are legally required to verify your valid ID card. And before a police officer answers your call, you have to produce an ID card.”

Mr. Pearce said that Mr. Gallardo’s comments about the effects on emergency services are wrong. Federal law mandates many services at the state and local level, and the measure would not affect those, Mr. Pearce said. “We’re not talking about denying anyone emergency care,” he said.

Rep. Ben Miranda, D-Dist. 16, said at the opposition news conference that, in the past, he has refrained from calling supporters of such measures racist. He said House rules forbid lawmakers from impugning each other’s motives.

“But what drives them is race,” Mr. Miranda said. “So to call Randy Graf — and I wish he was here — a racist or an uneducated fool is perfectly on the dot.”

Mr. Graf responded later. “That’s a shame, because we really don’t need to bring personalities into this,” he said. Nonetheless, Mr. Graf said, Mr. Miranda’s comments confirm his belief that opponents can’t make a case against the provisions of the initiative itself, so they “resort to name-calling.”

Staff writer Phil Riske contributed to this story—