Major swing county slapped with lawsuit, accused of not removing noncitizens from voter rolls
'This is about helping to restore the public's trust by making sure that election officials follow the law and that foreigners are not able to influence the outcome'
America First Legal (AFL) is suing Maricopa County, Arizona, for allegedly disregarding state law requiring officials to purge voter rolls of any noncitizens.
The Washington, D.C.,-based organization, led by former Trump administration senior advisor Stephen Miller, filed the lawsuit against Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer on Tuesday, according to court documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The lawsuit comes after AFL demanded Richer’s office to remove foreign nationals from the county’s voter rolls — demands that Richer rebuffed.
“America First Legal is leading the charge to keep illegal aliens from voting in 2024,” Miller said in a statement provided to the DCNF. “Maricopa County, in direct violation of state law, is refusing to remove illegal alien voters from the rolls.”
“We are taking decisive action: suing Maricopa County for unlawfully permitting illegal aliens and foreign citizens to interfere in the 2024 election,” Miller continued.
The lawsuit follows demand letters AFL sent to all fifteen counties in Arizona last month.
Those letters demanded county election officials to follow state law by preventing noncitizens from voting in elections, and warning them that they would face legal action if they failed to do so. Richer — responding via his attorney — stated that his office would not take action because his office was already verifying the citizenship of voters, according to AFL.
However, AFL claims that Richer’s response isn’t accurate, and that the number of registered voters in Maricopa County Recorder’s Office without confirmed citizenship “continues to rise,” according to the press release.
There were more than 35,000 registered voters in Arizona who failed to provide proof of their citizenship as of April 1, making them ineligible to vote in state and local elections, according to a July press release announcing AFL’s demand letters to Arizona county recorders. The 2020 Arizona presidential election was decided by a margin of less than 11,000 votes.
Under Arizona law, proof of citizenship is required in order to register to vote. A Supreme Court ruling found that state governments cannot mandate additional voter registration requirements beyond what federal registration forms already impose, which only ask registrants to check a box affirming they are a U.S. citizen — ultimately meaning Arizonans who do not provide proof of citizenship can vote in federal elections in Arizona, but not in state or local elections.
County recorders are required by Arizona law to perform monthly voter roll maintenance to confirm the citizenship of federal-only registered voters, according to AFL. The lawsuit claims Richer is not properly doing so.
“How can Arizonans have confidence in the integrity of their State’s elections when the government officials in charge of administering that election are not even following the law?” James Rogers, AFL legal senior counsel, said in a statement provided to the DCNF.
“It is reasonable for Arizonans to be concerned,” Rogers continued. “This lawsuit is about helping to restore the public’s trust by making sure that election officials follow the law and that foreigners are not able to influence the outcome of our elections.”
The lawsuit follows growing tensions between Republicans and Democrats over the issue of noncitizens, including illegal immigrants, allegedly participating in U.S. elections. President Joe Biden made public in July his opposition against legislation aiming to strengthen election integrity, releasing a White House statement opposing Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy’s Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act.
The AFL lawsuit is on behalf of the Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona and Yvonne Cahill, a naturalized citizen and a registered voter.
The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
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