Ariz. Senate approves candidate citizenship legislation

PHOENIX — Barack Obama won't necessarily need to dig out a birth certificate if he hopes to be on the Arizona ballot next year.

But he still may need to show state officials something else.

Without debate, the Senate on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to legislation designed to ensure that candidates for president are U.S. citizens, old enough to hold office and meet residency requirements. HB 2177 spells out that those who cannot provide the proof cannot have their names on the ballot.

But Sen. Frank Antenori, R-Tucson, said the requirement in the House-passed version of the legislation that candidates produce a “long-form birth certificate” is far too restrictive. In fact, he noted, it's far more than even the federal government requires to get a passport — or even top-secret security clearance.

His amendment provides a list of alternatives, including a baptismal or circumcision certificate, a hospital birth record, a postpartum medical record or even an early census record. Any two of these would be enough to conclude the candidate was, in fact, born in this country and eligible to run for president.

And if none of those are available, the notarized affidavit of two or more people who actually witnessed the candidate's birth would suffice.

“There are a lot of people, I've come to find out, that don't have birth certificates,” Antenori said. Sometimes, he said, the problem can be as simple as a fire having destroyed original records.

Antenori is convinced that Obama, whose actual long-form birth certificate has never been publicly released, will have no problems meeting the alternate qualifications.