A coalition of voting rights groups is accusing Arizona state agencies today of repeatedly violating federal voting laws designed to increase opportunities to register and vote and is demanding that the state’s top voting official fix the problems.

In a letter to Secretary of State Michele Reagan, the groups said Arizona’s Department of Transportation has failed to automatically update voters’ address changes and that public assistance agencies have violated regulations governing the distribution of voter registration applications.

State agencies also have mishandled citizenship documents that Arizonans are required to provide as a condition for voting, the groups charged, and many state agencies are not providing voter registration in Spanish and Native American languages – both required by the federal Voting Rights Act.

“These legal violations are undoubtedly leading to the exclusion of thousands of eligible voters in Arizona and disproportionately harm voter participation by low-income Arizonans and people of color,” said Sarah Brannon, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project.

The ACLU and its Arizona affiliate, along with the League of Women Voters of Arizona, Demos, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law submitted the letter to Reagan on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Arizona, Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, and Promise Arizona.

You can read the ACLU’s summary of the groups’ complaints ici and the full letter thee groups sent to Secretary Reagan ici.

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