Phoenix, Apr 19 (ANI): Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has vetoed a bill that would require President Barack Obama and other presidential candidates to prove their U.S. citizenship in order to get their names on the state's election ballot.
Brewer, a Republican, said the bill would allow officials to judge who is eligible to run for office.
A lingering "birther" conspiracy theory asserts Obama was not born in the US and is thus ineligible to hold the office. But the bill's Republican backers insisted it was not aimed at Obama.
Brewer said in her veto letter that she was troubled that the bill empowered Arizona's secretary of state to judge the qualifications of all candidates when they file to run for office.
"I do not support designating one person as the gatekeeper to the ballot for a candidate, which could lead to arbitrary or politically motivated decisions," said Brewer who was secretary of state until she became governor in 2009.
According to the BBC, The bill would have required national political parties to submit affidavits affirming their presidential candidates are "natural born" citizens and to provide a "long form birth certificate" listing the name of the hospital and the attending physician.
If the candidate did not possess that document, the candidate could provide a baptismal or circumcision certificate, hospital birth record, mother's post-partum medical record or early census record.
"I never imagined being presented with a bill that could require candidates for president of the greatest and most powerful nation on earth to submit their 'early baptismal circumcision certificates' among other records to the Arizona secretary of state," Brewer said.
The bill would have made Arizona the first state to pass such a requirement. However, opponents had warned the bill would give another black eye to Arizona after last year's controversy over the state's illegal immigration enforcement law. (ANI)
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