Arizona vote one to watch

The Denver Post, Wednesday, September 01, 2004

There are a couple of good reasons why voters in Colorado will want to pay particular attention to the election results in Arizona this fall.

The first is that voters there will decide the fate of a ballot initiative on illegal immigration that is very similar to one that had been recently proposed for Colorado.

The second reason has to do with the nature of the Arizona campaign, and especially the techniques being used by the initiative's opponents.

Proposition 200 - or Protect Arizona Now - would require all state and local government agencies to verify the immigration status of people who apply for services that aren't mandated by the federal government.

There is a long list of services that must be provided, regardless of immigration status. These include public education through high school, emergency health care, immunization programs, in-kind disaster relief, food assistance, federal school lunch programs and public services necessary to protect life or safety.

These federal mandates would be unaffected by the Arizona initiative. Proposition 200, if approved, would require new voters to document U.S. citizenship. It also would prohibit state and local workers from accepting insecure identification cards unless immigration status is verified, and would require government workers to report any violation to the immigration service.

The ballot measure is clearly inspired by the same type of voter frustration that was evident in California before voters approved Proposition 187, a measure largely invalidated by the courts.