SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem slammed Arizona’s elections in a visit to Scottsdale on Friday, saying “no state could use more improvement.”
Noem spoke at a press conference on election security hours before her agency was set to run out of money and pushed for passage of federal legislation to mandate voter ID and proof of citizenship to register to vote.
“But I hope that you do recognize that in the past, your state has been an absolute disaster on elections, that your leaders have failed you dramatically by not having systems that work, by disenfranchising Americans who wanted to vote,” she said. “They had to stand in lines for hours because machines failed or software failed. There's no state that could use more improvement than Arizona.”
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes pushed back in a video posted on social media.
“You're coming into Arizona, Secretary Noem, and telling me, the secretary of state, to do a job that I'm already doing,” he said.
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He said his office investigated more than 300 cases of possible voter fraud and referred the cases that had enough evidence for prosecution to Attorney General Kris Mayes.
"But here's the hook, I could do (the job) better if your friends in the state Legislature here in Arizona would fund and support the Arizona voters,” Fontes said, saying he wants funding for the Electronic Registration Information Center, for the counties’ voter registration systems and other initiatives.
Fontes said the country can have elections that are both secure and accessible.
"So don't come into Arizona, there from Washington, D.C., and tell us how to run our elections,” he said. “We're doing just fine.”
Noem stumps for voter registration bill
Noem is under increasing scrutiny over immigration enforcement and her role as Homeland Security leader.
She met on Friday with U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, state Rep. John Gillette and Jennifer Wright, a former assistant Arizona attorney general.
Noem described elections as a one of the “critical infrastructure responsibilities” that falls under her agency, but DHS has not previously been involved in election security.
She pushed for the SAVE America Act bill, which would require voters to show ID at the polls and provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
“This is federal legislation that does some common-sense, straightforward things,” she said.
The bill is needed, Noem said, to prevent foreign nationals from voting.
"They don't and should not be allowed to be trampling on the voice of the American people, and we'll no longer allow American citizens to be disenfranchised, to have their voices suppressed by criminals, by hostile foreign actors and by illegal aliens that shouldn't be here in this country,” she said.
It is illegal for non-citizens to register to vote, and non-citizen voting is very rare.
Noem said the legislation is “absolutely critical to our country's future, because without secure elections, we lose what makes our country so great, and then when we lose that, we lose our country altogether.”
Arizona is one of two states that requires proof of citizenship to register to vote. State law also requires voters to show ID at the polls.
“Kristi Noem choosing Arizona is so tragically ironic, because Arizona has some of the strongest laws in that regard,” U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton told ABC15. “And that's not opposed by one party or the or the other. These are the elections that we have, and we should support those elections.”
In his video, Fontes also pointed out that Arizona state law already requires voter ID and proof of citizenship to register.
What the SAVE America Act would do
If enacted, the SAVE America bill could mean big changes for Arizona voters. Most voters’ citizenship is verified by documents they’ve provided to the state’s Motor Vehicle Division, and tribal members can use their tribal enrollment document as documentary proof of citizenship.
But the bill would require Arizonans to provide a passport or a document like a birth certificate or naturalization document with their application when registering to vote.
The bill does allow the use of government-issued photo ID, including tribal ID, that shows a person’s place of birth was in the United States – something Arizona IDs don’t include and wouldn’t apply to U.S. citizens born outside the country. REAL IDs that show citizenship can also be used, but such Enhanced Driver’s Licenses are only available in five states along the northern border.
Voters who register by mail also would be required to submit their documents to an election office in person. The legislation is unclear on requirements for online registration.
The House bill also requires states to run its voter registration list through a Department of Homeland Security database designed to verify citizenship of applicants for public benefits.
“The bill would require states across this country to hand over voter information to the federal government,” said Stanton, who voted against the measure. “That is completely and totally unconstitutional.”
The SAVE America Act passed the U.S. House but faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where Republicans have a narrow majority.
