Student Voting Project | Arizona

Voting at School

ID Requirements

Arizona law requires every voter to show proof of identity at the polls. Specifically, you must show either one form of ID with your name, registration address, and photo, or two different forms of ID that both have your name and address.The ID must be valid, meaning that you cannot tell it is expired by looking at its face. Your student ID will only count as a valid voter ID if it has your voting address on it. 

The Secretary of State has said that an Arizona drivers' license, a tribal identification card or other government-issued photo ID are valid forms of the photo identification. Current utility bills (including cellular phone and cable television bills) count as forms of non-photo ID, as do bank statements, car insurance cards and voter registration cards.  Online printouts of these bills arefine.  Student housing bills will notcount as voter identification.  To be accepted as valid ID, all bills must be dated within ninety days of the election.  If you can't show ID at the polls you canvote by provisional ballot, but then you must show ID at the County Recorder's office within five business days after a general federal election or three daysafter any other election, or else your ballot won't be counted.

Registration Requirements

Your registration form must be received or postmarked by 29 days before the election. (Youcan also register online in Arizona if you have an Arizona driver's license.)

Arizona is the only state that currently requires you to prove your citizenship before you can register to vote.  This may behard for students who don't have an Arizona driver's license, and you may want to make sure you have a way to prove citizenship well before the registration deadline.  In order to prove your citizenship when youregister, you must provide either: (1) a valid Arizona driver's license number on your application, as long as the license was issued after 10/1/96; (2) a photocopy of a U.S. birth certificate; (3) a photocopy of a U.S. passport; (4) a valid certificate of naturalization number; or (5) a Bureau of Indian Affairs card number, Tribal Treaty card number or Tribal Enrollment number. If you register by mail or through a voter registration drive, you'll have to enclose one of these with your registration form.  If you register in person at the County Recorder'soffice, you can also show original naturalization documents.

Residency Requirements

The Arizona elections code defines residence as "actual physical presence" plus an "intent to remain." Both the Office of the Secretary of State and the County Recorder of Pima County, where the main campus of the University of Arizona is located, have said that students do not need to have an intent to remain for an indefinite period of time to register in their college communities.

While the statute defining residency doesn't require indefinite intent to remain, the most recent court case looking at residency stated that the necessary intent is "to remain here indefinitely."  In that case, though, temporary workers came into the state and hadn't found permanent housing, moved their possessions, ordered services in their names, or changed their addresses.  The best reading of the law is that students who intend to remain in Arizona while they attend school and who treat their home in Arizona as their residence are entitled to register and vote as Arizona residents. 

Once you have completed a voter registration form, you are presumed to have validly registered; as long as your form is complete, county officials are obligated to register you to vote. 

Fighting Challenges to Residency

Once you're registered, you are presumed to have voting residency—if someone challenges your residency, it is up to them to prove through clear and convincing evidence that you are not a resident.  Arizona allows any qualified voter in the county, including challengers appointed by political parties, to challenge your residency at the polls.  If your residency is challenged at the polls, you must sign an "affidavit of registration" swearing that you are a resident and a legally registered voter. You may also have to swear to answer any questions regarding your residence truthfully, and then answer those questions before the election board. You will be allowed to vote a regular ballot unless the election board finds that the challenger has proven by clear and convincing evidence that you are not a resident. If the board finds the challenge legitimate, you may still vote by provisional ballot.

There is no rule that driver's license residency and voting residency must be the same.  Arizona residents are required to get driver's licenses and re-register their cars immediately upon entering the state.  However, out-of-state students taking seven or more semester hours are specifically exempted from the definition of "resident" in the motor vehicle code. Out-of-state students are defined as those who either pay out-of-state tuition at a public university or those who attend a private university but would not be eligible for in-state tuition if they attended a public school.

Absentee Requirement

Arizona has no-fault absentee voting, which means you don't need an excuse to vote an absentee ballot.  You can mail a request to your County Recorder, and some counties allow you to request an absentee ballot online.  Your request must be received by the County Recorder by 5 p.m. on the eleventh day before the election.

Your absentee ballot must be received by the County Recorder or delivered to any polling place in the county by 7 p.m. on Election Day. If you are a first-time voter who registered by mail, when you receive your blank ballot, you may also receive a request to send additional documentation with your ballot if the state was unable to verify your registration.

Voting at Home

ID Requirements

Arizona law requires every voter to show proof of identity at the polls. Specifically, you must show either one form of ID with your name, registration address, and photo, or two different forms of ID that both have your name and address.The ID must be valid, meaning that you cannot tell it is expired by looking at its face. Your student ID will only count as a valid voter ID if it has your voting address on it. 

The Secretary of State has said that an Arizona drivers' license, a tribal identification card or other government-issued photo ID are valid forms of the photo identification. Current utility bills (including cellular phone and cable television bills) count as forms of non-photo ID, as do bank statements, car insurance cards and voter registration cards.  Online printouts of these bills arefine.  Student housing bills will notcount as voter identification.  To be accepted as valid ID, all bills must be dated within ninety days of the election.  If you can't show ID at the polls you canvote by provisional ballot, but then you must show ID at the County Recorder's office within five business days after a general federal election or three daysafter any other election, or else your ballot won't be counted.

Registration Requirements

Your registration form must be received or postmarked by 29 days before the election. (Youcan also register online in Arizona if you have an Arizona driver's license.)

Arizona is the only state that currently requires you to prove your citizenship before you can register to vote.  This may behard for students who don't have an Arizona driver's license, and you may want to make sure you have a way to prove citizenship well before the registration deadline.  In order to prove your citizenship when youregister, you must provide either: (1) a valid Arizona driver's license number on your application, as long as the license was issued after 10/1/96; (2) a photocopy of a U.S. birth certificate; (3) a photocopy of a U.S. passport; (4) a valid certificate of naturalization number; or (5) a Bureau of Indian Affairs card number, Tribal Treaty card number or Tribal Enrollment number. If you register by mail or through a voter registration drive, you'll have to enclose one of these with your registration form.  If you register in person at the County Recorder's office, you can also show original naturalization documents.

Residency Requirements

The Arizona elections code defines residence as "actual physical presence" plus an "intent to remain." Both the Office of the Secretary of State and the County Recorder of Pima County, where the main campus of the University of Arizona is located, have said that students do not need to have an intent to remain for an indefinite period of time to register in their college communities.

While the statute defining residency doesn't require indefinite intent to remain, the most recent court case looking at residency stated that the necessary intent is "to remain here indefinitely."  In that case, though, temporary workers came into the state and hadn't found permanent housing, moved their possessions, ordered services in their names, or changed their addresses.  The best reading of the law is that students who intend to remain in Arizona while they attend school and who treat their home in Arizona as their residence are entitled to register and vote as Arizona residents. 

Once you have completed a voter registration form, you are presumed to have validly registered; as long as your form is complete, county officials are obligated to register you to vote. 

Fighting Challenges to Residency

Once you're registered, you are presumed to have voting residency—if someone challenges your residency, it is up to them to prove through clear and convincing evidence that you are not a resident.  Arizona allows any qualified voter in the county, including challengers appointed by political parties, to challenge your residency at the polls.  If your residency is challenged at the polls, you must sign an "affidavit of registration" swearing that you are a resident and a legally registered voter. You may also have to swear to answer any questions regarding your residence truthfully, and then answer those questions before the election board. You will be allowed to vote a regular ballot unless the election board finds that the challenger has proven by clear and convincing evidence that you are not a resident. If the board finds the challenge legitimate, you may still vote by provisional ballot.

There is no rule that driver's license residency and voting residency must be the same.  Arizona residents are required to get driver's licenses and re-register their cars immediately upon entering the state.  However, out-of-state students taking seven or more semester hours are specifically exempted from the definition of "resident" in the motor vehicle code. Out-of-state students are defined as those who either pay out-of-state tuition at a public university or those who attend a private university but would not be eligible for in-state tuition if they attended a public school.

Absentee Requirement

Arizonahas no-fault absentee voting, which means you don't need an excuse to vote anabsentee ballot.  You can mail a request to your County Recorder,and some counties allow you to request an absentee ballot online.  Your request must be received by the County Recorderby 5 p.m. on the eleventh day before the election.

Your absentee ballot must be received by the County Recorderor delivered to any polling place in the county by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Ifyou are a first-time voter who registered by mail, when you receive your blankballot, you may also receive a request to send additional documentation withyour ballot if the state was unable to verify your registration.