AZ Proof of Citizenship Continues to Disenfranchise Citizens

by Whitney Norton

97-year-old Shirley Preiss was recently told that, despite having voted in the past 19 presidential elections, she will not be able to register to vote in November because she is unable to meet Arizona’s proof of citizenship requirement.

According to a local news station: 

Preiss was born in 1910 in Clinton, Ky., before birth certificates were issued. She said she no longer has a driver’s license and never had a passport.

"You can see my mother’s not a national threat," said her son Nathan Nemnich. "Been voting since 1932." Nemnich produced the files documenting his attempts to get her registered. 

"A delayed birth certificate," he said. "You have to have witnesses. Everybody’s dead."

When the family tried to get school records from Tennessee, they found out the school no longer exists

...Preiss said for someone who once lived in a time when women could not vote, the law is a step backwards. The former school teacher said she has voted in every presidential election since 1932.

Nemnich said his next step is to call the governor’s office for help.

Experts said it’s hard to say how many other people are in the same situation as Preiss. But the Arizona Advocacy Network said almost 40,000 voter registration forms have been rejected since the state’s voter ID law went into effect. 

Click here to read Preiss’s story.