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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Camila Gallardo
(305)573-7329
cgallardo@nclr.org
Law would have created additional obstacles to voting for Latinos and other minorities
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, NCLR (National Council of La Raza) applauded the Supreme Court’s decision on Gonzalez v. Arizona, a voter ID law that would have required potential eligible voters to prove citizenship in order to register to vote. Tennessee, Kansas, Georgia and Alabama had passed similar laws in the year leading up to the 2012 election. In a 7-2 decision, the Court ruled that Arizona’s law is preempted by the National Voter Registration Act, also known as the Motor Voter Act. Justice Scalia, in the majority opinion, explained that federal law “forbids states to demand an applicant submit additional information beyond that required by the federal form.”
The Arizona voter ID law would have placed an additional burden on eligible Latino and other minority voters by requiring many of them to register in person, given that photocopying a naturalization document is prohibited by federal law.
“We applaud the Supreme Court for today’s ruling, which ensures that all eligible potential voters have equitable access to the voting process. Minorities, the young and the elderly would have been disproportionately impacted if the law were allowed to stand. This is precisely why the Motor Voter Act was enacted over two decades ago to prevent such inequities,” said Clarissa Martínez-De-Castro, Director of Immigration and Civic Engagement, NCLR.
NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.
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