United States presidential eligibility legislation
Individual states did not introduce significant relevant legislation until the 2008 election of Barack Obama, when a controversy known as the birther movement was promoted by various conspiracy theorists.
[29][30] In May 2010, Hawaii enacted a law allowing the state to ignore requests for information if deemed "duplicative or substantially similar" to a prior query.
[31][32][33][34][35] In January 2011, Hawaii state representative Rida Cabanilla introduced HB 1116,[36] allowing the Hawaii Department of Health to provide upon request a copy of the birth certificate of a "person of civic prominence", defined as a candidate or officeholder for which United States citizenship is required, and to charge the requesting party a surcharge of $100.
[40] In February 2012, a committee in the Kansas House of Representatives approved a bill that would require candidates for state and federal offices to provide proof of citizenship.
[43] State representative Richard Cebra introduced legislation requiring candidates to submit a birth certificate and government-issued identification.
[44] Legislation introduced in April 2011 by state Representative Mike Callton would require presidential candidates to submit their birth certificates.
"[49] In May 2011, the requirement that presidential candidates present proof of natural born citizenship was added but later trimmed from an omnibus election law reform bill.
State Representatives Cynthia L. Davis, Timothy W. Jones and Casey Guernsey have committed to participating as plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in Missouri challenging Obama's citizenship.
[54] State Representative Edgar G. H. Emery told reporters in July 2009 that he "questions Obama's citizenship and ... believes his alleged lack of a legitimate birth certificate ignores the Constitution.
[62] He also unsuccessfully approached Oklahoma Republican Senators Tom Coburn and James Inhofe to persuade them to mount a challenge to Obama's confirmation by Congress.
[67] In Tennessee, four Republican state Representatives—Stacey Campfield, Glen Casada, Frank S. Niceley and Eric H. Swafford—announced in February 2009 that they would be joining a legal action to force Obama to release his birth certificate and prove his citizenship.
Casada, the Tennessee House Republican caucus chairman, said that he believes Obama has further proof of eligibility, and would like him to make it available: "Yes, people may say, you're just chasing some conspiracy theory ... [but] it's a simple act on his part to just do, and we're done—move on."
[68][69] Legislation proposed in January 2011 would require anyone running for elected office to furnish a birth certificate before being declared an eligible candidate.
[71] In January 2016, two Democratic legislators proposed barring the Secretary of State from placing on the ballot any presidential or vice-presidential candidate who was not a natural-born citizen.
[80] On 5 March 2018, the state senate of Maryland passed a bill to require presidential candidates to release tax returns.
[81] In March 2017, the state legislature of New Jersey passed a bill to require presidential candidates to release tax returns.
[83] On December 15, 2022, David Cicilline and 39 other House Democrats introduced a bill to bar Donald Trump from future office via evidence of his having engaged in insurrection.
[84] In January 2024, Arizona state senator Janae Shamp introduced a bill that would prevent a candidate from being removed from the ballot via Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment absent criminal conviction for insurrection.
[87] In January 2024, Honolulu state senator Karl Rhoads introduced a bill stipulating exclusion from the ballot of anyone disqualified under section 3 of the 14th amendment of the U.S. constitution, and prohibiting presidential electors from voting for any such person.
[88] In January 2024, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate filed a bill limiting challenges to eligibility for presidential general election ballot access to grounds other than section 3 of the 14th amendment.
