Cruz's mother's name appears on a Canadian government document that lists Canadian citizens eligible to vote in 1974.
The document in question is a voter list of individuals who lived in the southern district of the city of Calgary, were over the age of 18 and were Canadian citizens, thus eligible to vote.
In accordance with the Canadian Election Act, such lists were compiled in the 1970s by a pair of officials, called enumerators, who went door-to-door together in an electoral district to ascertain the name, address and occupation of any person qualified to vote.
The statute states that enumerators who “willfully and without reasonable excuse” added a name to the list “of any person who is not entitled to have his name entered thereon” forfeited pay for their services and were be subject to other punishments.
Another election official, called a returning officer, then reviewed the list. The statute states that the returning officer could not certify the document if he believed the list contained the name of any person who shouldn’t be included.
The document was certified in Calgary by a returning officer.
A Canadian elections official said that in the process of compiling the list, enumerators asked people to affirm that they were Canadian citizens: "So when they knock on doors, they ask them: are you Canadian citizens, are you 18 years of age or older, and are you a resident in this facility and how long have you been living here?"
Drew Westwater, the director of election operations and communications for Elections Alberta, said, "If they meet all that criteria then they add them to the list, take their name and addresses and anyone else who's living there. And they ask, is anyone else living here a Canadian citizen 18 years of age or older? And if they are, then they take their names from them at the door. And that's the way it worked in those days."
The Raphael and Eleanor Cruz listed on the document clearly appear to be Cruz's parents. The spelling of Cruz’s father’s name is anglicized to “Raphael” rather than the correct spelling "Rafael" and his occupation is listed as self-employed; at the time, the Cruzes worked in the oil industry running a seismic data-processing business.
The address listed for the couple in the 1973 city directory matched the address on 1974 voter list and further listed both Cruzes as executives of the data-processing firm.
According to phone books from 1971, 1972 and 1973, Cruz's parents were the only individuals with the surname Cruz living in Calgary.
Ted Cruz, who was a dual citizen, formally renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2014.
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