Conservative group America First Legal sued all 15 counties in Arizona on Tuesday for allegedly failing to purge illegal migrants and other noncitizens from their voter rolls.
The group filed an amended lawsuit against every single county in the swing state of Arizona after originally only suing Maricopa County, according to court documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The Washington, D.C.-based organization is charging that county leaders are failing to follow their legal obligation to prevent noncitizens from voting in elections.
“We are taking emergency action to secure our elections,” Stephen Miller, president of America First Legal and a former senior advisor in the Trump administration, said in a statement.
“In addition to Maricopa, we are now suing 14 additional counties in Arizona for refusing to remove illegal aliens and non-citizens from their voter rolls,” Miller continued. “America First Legal will do everything in its power to fight mass illegal alien voting and foreign interference in our democracy.”
America First Legal originally sent letters to all 15 Arizona counties in July, threatening them with lawsuits unless they fulfill their legal duty to purge voter rolls of illegal migrants and other noncitizens. The group sued Maricopa County in August, alleging the Maricopa County recorder rebuffed their demand to clean the voter rolls.
Maricopa County initially removed the case to federal court after arguing that the lawsuit involved federal laws, according to America First Legal. Miller’s group argues that this move “backfired” as it allowed them to sue more than one county at a time — something they weren’t able to do under Arizona state court rules.
There were over 35,000 registered voters in Arizona who did not provide proof of their citizenship to election officials as of April 1, making them ineligible to participate in state and local elections, according to a July press release announcing America First Legal’s demand letters to the county recorders. The 2020 Arizona presidential election was notably decided by a margin of fewer than 11,000 votes.
Proof of citizenship is required in order to register to vote under Arizona law. A Supreme Court ruling in 2013 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 — meaning state residents who don’t provide proof of citizenship can vote in federal elections in Arizona but not in state or local elections.
County recorders are required by state law to perform monthly voter roll maintenance to confirm the citizenship of federal-only registered voters, according to America First Legal.
The amended lawsuit follows growing action by GOP leaders across the country to prevent noncitizens from participating in elections. Alabama, Virginia, Texas and Ohio have recently identified more than 17,000 noncitizens on their voter rolls, with reported evidence that some of them have already voted in the past.
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