WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, America First Legal (AFL) filed a lawsuit against the Maricopa County Recorder on behalf of Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona and Yvonne Cahill, a registered voter and naturalized citizen, for failing to take action to remove foreign citizens from their voter rolls.

On July 17, AFL sent letters on behalf of its clients demanding that election officials in all 15 Arizona counties fulfill their legal obligations to prevent aliens from voting and warning them that if they fail to do so, AFL would pursue legal action on behalf of its clients. 

AFL gave the counties one week to take action. Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer replied through his attorney, brazenly stating that he would not be taking any action. He incorrectly claimed that his office is already following the law about verifying the citizenship of voters. This claim is incorrect because the number of registered voters without confirmed citizenship continues to rise under his watch, and his office has not even bothered to obtain access to any of the necessary databases for checking the citizenship of already registered voters. 

Today, on behalf of its clients, AFL is fulfilling its legal promise and suing Maricopa County. 

Arizona election officials have a mandatory obligation to ensure that foreign nationals are removed from their voter rolls and that they use the available access to federal databases. Arizona law requires county recorders to perform monthly list maintenance to confirm the citizenship of registered voters who have failed to provide proof of their citizenship.

Two federal statutes that have been in effect for nearly thirty years, 8 U.S.C. § 1373(c) and 8 U.S.C. § 1644, allow State and local officials to obtain information about the citizenship or immigration status of any individual for any lawful purpose. Yet, Recorder Richer obstinately refuses to use these statutes to get citizenship information from DHS about voters registered in Maricopa County.

Given Maricopa County’s failure to act, AFL has taken swift legal action to compel them to fulfill their statutory duties.

Statement from Stephen Miller, America First Legal President

“America First Legal is leading the charge to keep illegal aliens from voting in 2024. 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,” said Stephen Miller.

Statement from James Rogers, America First Legal Senior Counsel:

“It is against Arizona and federal law for foreign citizens to register to vote. Arizona has adopted first-in-the-nation laws to help make sure foreigners can't register and to also ensure that foreigners already on the voter rolls are removed. Yet, those laws have no impact if Arizona’s County Recorders ignore them. A recent survey found that sixty percent of Arizonans ‘are concerned that cheating will affect the outcome of the 2024 election.’ 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? In another recent survey of Arizona and five other states, more than one percent of likely voters said that they are not U.S. citizens. Many recent elections in Arizona have been decided by margins of less than one percent. It is reasonable for Arizonans to be concerned. 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,” said James Rogers. 

Read the lawsuit here.

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