Obama’s Controversial Citizenship Status Prompts New Laws

President Barack Obama’s controversial citizenship status has prompted new legislation proposals.
To begin with, a huge percentage of Republicans believe that Barack Obama is not eligible to hold public office mainly because of his citizenship status. Most Republicans and their Tea Party supporters have expressed great skepticism over Obama’s citizenship. They do not believe that he was actually born in America.
The Obama citizenship issue, starting as just a minor rumor has as of this moment generated into such a serious matter that it has prompted Republican members of the United States Congress and State Assemblies to propose and vote for legislations which would make it a requirement for future presidential candidates to provide copies of their birth certificates before they can run for presidency.

The proposals of the bills began in 2008 in Oklahoma by the popular Oklahoma Republican State Representative, Mike Ritze. He proposed the bill in December 2008 and in the bill it was stated that any candidate vying for public office in Oklahoma must show proof of citizenship. Mike Ritze said that he does not believe that U.S President Barack Obama submitted an authentic copy of his birth certificate.
The proposed bill, however did not pass as it failed to meet the 25-vote threshold. Undaunted by this, in February this year another similar legislation was again introduced in the Oklahoma State Senate.

In March 2009, fifteen Republican members of the Missouri House of Representatives put their support into an amendment to the Missouri Constitution. In the amendment, it required candidates standing for presidential positions to provide a birth certificate to the Missouri Secretary of State in order that they can confirm their eligibility. And a failure to comply by that rule would result in the candidate being deemed ineligible to run for office of the President or Vice President.
Republican State Representative Lyle Rowland in January 2011 brought forward a legislation which has only one aim - that all presidential and vice presidential candidates contesting for the ultimate job in the U.S show proof of their United States citizenship.

The state of Arizona followed suit in April 2010 when the Arizona House of Representatives agreed on the law that sought to give the Arizona Secretary of State the unique power to remove a candidate’s name from the state ballot if there is a reason to believe that the candidate’s requirements for office are not sufficient. The bill successfully made its way to the Arizona State Senate where it was declined to be voted on.
In January 2011 a similar bill was reintroduced in the Arizona House of Representatives.

After the State of Arizona, similar bills that make it a requirement for the United States Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates to show proof of U.S citizenship have surfaced in several other states among which include the following: Georgia, Hawaii, Texas, Indiana, Montana, Connecticut and Nebraska.
All these legislations fueled by the fact or notion that many Republicans either doubt or fail to accept the citizenship status of the current U.S President Barack Obama.
Recent polls conducted in 2010 showed that more than a quarter of adults in the United States doubt Obama’s U.S. birth.