Arizona's Birther Bill

Delivered to the people of Arizona, with a little help from the likes of Donald Trump:

Arizona’s state Senate approved a bill on Wednesday that will require presidential candidates to prove they are U.S. citizens before they can be included on a state ballot.

Prompted by challenges to President Barack Obama’s citizenship and, therefore, eligibility for the job, the bill passed 20-9 in the Senate, and now moves to the state House for a final vote before heading to Republican Gov. Jan Brewer’s desk.

The legislation, a revised version of an earlier bill that would have required each candidate to provide a “long-form” birth certificate, also gives candidates the option of instead providing two of the following documents: an early baptismal or circumcision certificate, a hospital birth record, a postpartum hospital record for the mother or an early census record.

When, when, when will the good citizens of Arizona finally come to insist their elected officials do the work of the people, instead of wasting taxpayer dollars to enact laws that do no fall within the state’s legislative power under the Constitution?

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, said it requires presidential candidates to provide more proof than what’s required by the U.S. Constitution, an authority states like Arizona don’t have.

“In that specific and very basic level, we are overstepping our state bounds,” Sinema said.

Sinema also said the bill gives the Arizona Secretary of State “unfettered” control to determine whether a candidate has satisfied the requirements in the bill in order to be placed on the ballot.

As approved, the measure orders the Arizona’s secretary of state to not place candidates’ names on the ballot if they fail to submit and swear to the authenticity of the documents they are required to produce.

The candidates’ names may also be excluded from the ballot if the secretary of state believes the documents submitted show they do not meet the qualifications to run for the country’s highest office.

But not to worry. I suppose if and when a candidate is excluded from a ballot, they can always go to court.