WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last night, on behalf of Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, known as EZAZ.org, and Yvonne Cahill, a registered voter and naturalized citizen, America First Legal (AFL) asked the Supreme Court of Arizona to use all available lawful tools to confirm the citizenship status of 97,688 registered voters, and to remove any noncitizens from the voter rolls in an amicus brief filed in Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer v. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.
On July 17, AFL sent all 15 Arizona counties a demand letter threatening legal action if steps were not taken to stop illegal aliens from voting. On September 4, after failing to take action to remove illegal aliens from voter rolls, AFL sued all 15 counties in Arizona.
Last week, officials in Arizona discovered a flaw that allowed 97,688 voters to vote in state and local elections for years without ever providing proof of citizenship. This egregious error makes clear that Arizona state election officials have failed to fulfill their voter list maintenance duties.
On Tuesday, September 17, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer filed a special action in the Arizona Supreme Court asking the court to order that all 97,688 voters should be moved onto the “federal only” voter list and thus denied the chance to vote in state and local elections. In other words, County Recorder Richer asked the court to disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters. On the other hand, Secretary Fontes asked the court to let all 97,688 individuals continue to vote in state and local elections without needing to actually prove their citizenship. This would violate Arizona law.
In its amicus brief filed yesterday, AFL provided a solution that balances between the two extremes offered by Richer and Fontes. AFL’s brief argued that any early ballots returned by the 97,688 voters should be sequestered while Secretary Fontes and county recorders work to verify each voter’s citizenship.
In 2022, the Arizona Legislature enacted H.B. 2492 and H.B. 2243—two bills that required the Arizona Secretary of State and county recorders to do monthly checks in three particular databases (plus in any other databases he has access to) to try to verify the citizenship of voters who hadn’t already provided proof of citizenship. Unfortunately, Secretary Fontes never bothered to get access to the three databases:
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE);
- The Social Security Administration (SSA) database;
- The National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS) electronic verification of vital events system (EVVE).
AFL’s solution would require Secretary Fontes to do something he should have done a year and a half ago—promptly obtain access to EVVE, whether directly or through the Arizona Department of Health Services (which already has access). With access to EVVE, he would then be able to verify the place of birth for all 97,688 individuals and thus confirm the citizenship of all natural-born citizens on the list.
Then, for all individuals whose citizenship was still unconfirmed, Secretary Fontes and the Recorders would check DHS’s SAVE database.
For any remaining unresolved questions, he would then submit direct requests to DHS—something Secretary Fontes and the County Recorders could have been doing all along but haven’t. This would involve using the federal laws that AFL has previously highlighted for all election officials across the country.
Finally, for any voters whose citizenship was still not confirmed, they would use all available contact methods to notify them that they would have to provide proof of citizenship to vote a full ballot in the election. There is no obstacle to Secretary Fontes and Recorder Richer following these common-sense steps.
AFL will continue to ensure illegal aliens are purged from American voter rolls for a secure election.
Statement from James Rogers, America First Legal Senior Counsel:
“None of this would be a problem if Secretary Fontes and Arizona’s county recorders had followed the law and put in place the required processes to verify voters’ citizenship. Now that we’re in this mess, neither side has offered a good solution. Maricopa County Recorder Richer wants to disenfranchise almost 100,000 voters. Secretary Fontes wants to ignore Arizona’s laws that require voters to prove their citizenship. Neither solution makes sense. It’s wrong to disenfranchise lawful voters. But it’s also wrong to ignore the law and let people vote without proving their citizenship. AFL has offered a workable solution that treads a middle path, satisfying the demands of mercy and justice. Arizona’s election officials should follow it,” said James Rogers.
Read the amicus brief here.
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Photo credit: Adobe Stock Images / mehaniq41
