A federal judge ruled a new Arizona law requiring voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship is not discriminatory, and Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake told Newsmax it’s absurd it takes a court ruling to affirm that only American citizens can vote in elections.
“It's crazy,” Lake told “Eric Bolling The Balance” on Friday. “We have to go to court just to solidify the law. We want to make sure that American citizens are able to vote and they're able to cast their ballots and we don't want to infringe on that.”
The Department of Justice, the Democrat National Committee and voting groups reportedly filed legal challenges to the Arizona legislation that was signed into law in 2022 by Republican former Gov. Doug Ducey, arguing they were racially discriminatory. The law was upheld Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton, a Bill Clinton appointee.
“We need to make sure that there are citizens that are voting and not people who are coming over illegally,” said Lake, who lost a close election to Democrat Katie Hobbs to succeed Ducey, who was term-limited. “Let's face it, this invasion at the border is about Democrats lining up a whole bunch of new voters, and they want nothing more than to see everyone pouring across our border to be able to vote.”
Lake, who is competing to win the GOP nomination and face Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego and, possibly, independent incumbent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in November, said Americans are fleeing blue states because of bad Democrat policies. The only way blue states can avoid losing congressional seats — which are based on a state’s population — is to have illegal immigrants to fill the void.
Sinema has not yet announced a decision to seek reelection.
“Remember when President Trump tried to get that question on the census form, asking if you're here legally and they fought tooth-and-nail?” Lake said. “That's exactly why. Look at where they're sending these people by the busloads, and people are getting on planes here in Phoenix, Arizona, pouring across our border getting a free airline ticket, and they're showing up in places like New York. They're going to places like Illinois, a lot of these blue states.
“And guess what? Americans are fleeing the blue states because the taxes are too high, and the policies are woke. As people start to flee New York, they’re losing population. They want to fill it back up with people here illegally, so they don't lose their power in the Congress in these blue states.”
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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