PHOENIX -- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has vetoed a bill to require President Barack Obama and other presidential candidates to prove their U.S. citizenship before their names can appear on the state's ballot.
The bill vetoed by Brewer on Monday would have made Arizona the first state to pass such a requirement. According to My Fox Phoenix, the governor said the measure "is a bridge too far."
The AP reported last week on the legislation:
The Arizona proposal would require political parties and presidential candidates to hand in affidavits stating a candidate's citizenship and age and to provide the candidate's birth certificate and a sworn statement saying where the candidate has lived for 14 years.
If candidates don't have a copy of their birth certificates, they could meet the requirement by providing baptismal or circumcision certificates, hospital birth records and other documents.
"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 or circumcision certificates'," said Brewer in light of vetoing the bill, according to My Fox Phoenix. "This measure creates significant new problems while failing to do anything constructive for Arizona."
Last week, Brewer was tight-lipped on whether or not she planned to sign off on the bill. At the time, she called the measure "an interesting piece of legislation."
Hawaii officials have certified Obama was born in that state, but so-called "birthers" have demanded more proof.
UPDATE: Brewer discussed her decision the presidential birther bill that cleared the Arizona state legislature last week during a phone interview on Fox News on Monday night. Here's an excerpt of what she had to say about the measure:
Well, the birther [bill] is the requirement that any presidential candidate or any other candidate would have to show proof of citizenship, and if they didn't, then they would have to show a batt -- baptisiminal -- baptisimal -- baptismal certificate or a certificate of circumcision. So it is something that I felt very, very uncomfortable with and I feel that it serves no purpose. So today, I went on record and I vetoed it.
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And it doesn't help Arizona. This bill is a distraction, and we just simply need to get on with the state's business.