All 15 Arizona counties 'failed' to purge foreign nationals from voter rolls, lawsuit claims

A new federal lawsuit from a legal foundation with strong ties to former President Donald Trump alleges that all 15 counties in Arizona have "failed" to purge foreign nationals from their voter rolls, leaving elections vulnerable to foreign interference.

On Wednesday, America First Legal filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, claiming that the counties and their respective recorders "failed to take the actions required by law to ensure that foreign citizens are removed from their voter rolls."

Arizona has a unique system by which prospective voters in federal elections may register using a federal form that does not require documented proof of citizenship. Documentation is required, however, for those casting ballots in state or local elections.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld this bifurcated system, as Blaze News previously reported.

According to the new lawsuit, county recorders are obligated by state law to perform monthly maintenance of their voter rolls to ensure that those who register to vote via the federal form are in fact U.S. citizens. County recorders also must furnish the state attorney general with a list of and applications for all registered voters who "have not provided satisfactory evidence of citizenship," the lawsuit said, citing state law.

The lawsuit claimed that all 15 county recorders have "failed" in these regards and that such failures "cause voters to lose confidence in the integrity of our election system."

The best possible means of ensuring that registered voters are U.S. citizens is by submitting a request to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to verify their citizenship status under Sections 1373 and 1644 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the lawsuit argued.

"It's about making use of every available legal authority to tighten down and make sure that you are confident that no noncitizens are going to be on the voter rolls or are going to be voting in any election," AFL executive director Gene Hamilton told Blaze News in a recent interview.

The lawsuit further alleges that the current process is "discriminatory" against naturalized citizens who are subjected to additional scrutiny when registering to vote. One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Yvonne Cahill, is a naturalized citizen.

'We don’t have to respond to this, correct?'

Early last month, America First Legal — led by President Stephen Miller, a former senior adviser to Trump — first filed the lawsuit in state court and against Maricopa County only, as Blaze News previously reported.

Maricopa County — which has a history of "employing procedural maneuvers to delay election cases and keep them from being heard on the merits," according to a press release from AFL — then reportedly elected to move the case to federal court, opening the door to litigation against the other 14 counties in Arizona as well. AFL apparently took advantage of that opportunity.

AFL insists that noncitizens registering to vote is a pressing issue, noting in the lawsuit that nearly 1% of likely voters admitted in a recent survey that they are not U.S. citizens.

Plus, more than 16,000 voters have recently been removed from voter rolls in Alabama, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia because they are believed to be noncitizens, the lawsuit said. Of those 16,000, at least 2,000 have cast a ballot.

"We are taking emergency action to secure our elections," Stephen Miller told Blaze News in a statement. "In addition to Maricopa, we are now suing 14 additional counties in Arizona for refusing to remove illegal aliens and noncitizens from their voter rolls. America First Legal will do everything in its power to fight mass illegal alien voting and foreign interference in our democracy."

Blaze News also reached out to all 15 Arizona county recorders for comment.

Josh Heywood, spokesperson for Maricopa County recorder Stephen Richer, gave the following statement:

The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office prioritizes and prides itself on maintaining accurate, up-to-date voter rolls. Under Recorder Stephen Richer’s leadership, voter list maintenance has remained a top priority, removing more than 400,000 voters from the rolls since January 2021. As an administrative office, we will continue to follow the letter of the law.

On behalf of Pima County recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, spokesperson Michael Truelsen — who provided his preferred pronouns in his email signature — shared with Blaze News a July letter from Cázares-Kelly to AFL.

The letter indicates that Cázares-Kelly's office "performs daily list maintenance to ensure compliance with applicable federal and state laws regarding citizenship" and that its "current list maintenance procedures are thorough and address many" of AFL's "concerns."

"As a general rule, those who are not citizens do not register to vote. In rare cases where someone who is not eligible actually attempts to register to vote, there are safeguards and laws to ensure that only eligible persons can vote," Cázares-Kelly's letter said.

In an apparent mistake, recorder Polly Merriman of Graham County sent Blaze News an email that read: "We don’t have to respond to this, correct?" The email was addressed to "Jean."

Michelle Burchill of Yavapai County declined to comment.

Recorders in Apache, Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Greenlee, La Paz, Mohave, Navajo, Pinal, Santa Cruz, and Yuma Counties did not respond.

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