Arizona activists have secured a settlement in a legal battle over election integrity that has prompted all 15 counties in Arizona to go to work removing non-citizens from the state’s voter rolls.
Attorneys with America First Legal (AFL) secured the settlement in a lawsuit filed last year.
As a result of the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, known as EZAZ.org, and Yvonne Cahill, a registered voter and naturalized citizen, all 15 Arizona County Recorders are now seeking assistance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to verify the citizenship status of registered voters who have not provided proof of citizenship.
While some have scoffed at the settlement, claiming concerns about illegal aliens voting for federal offices in Arizona election is a minor issue because they believe illegal alien voters have never changed the outcome of an election, election integrity activists argue that even one instance of voter fraud disenfranchises all citizens.
“Either a voter is a citizen and should have a full ballot — or they are not and they should be removed per our law” wrote one activist.
The usual suspects in the Arizona press are rushing to downplay the admission from all 15 counties that they have not been properly maintaining their voter rolls.
These propagandists will do absolutely anything to protect a flawed and corrupt election system.
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) April 14, 2025
AFL filed the lawsuit against the 15 counties in Arizona on September 4, 2024 due to Arizona’s unique voter registration system, which, unlike almost every other state, requires documentary proof of citizenship to vote in state and local elections. The state’s groundbreaking law imposing this requirement is an important way to ensure that only eligible citizens can vote.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that in federal elections, states cannot impose additional voter registration requirements beyond what the federal voter registration form requires, which only requires registrants to check a box affirming they are citizens. Therefore, if someone registering to vote in Arizona refuses to provide proof of citizenship, the state is required to allow that person to vote in Arizona’s federal elections, unless the state discovers that the individual is an ineligible voter. However, Arizona law still requires proof of citizenship to vote in state and local elections.
AFL claims that nearly 50,000 individuals have registered to vote in Arizona without providing proof of citizenship. These registrants, also called “federal-only voters” can only vote in Arizona’s federal elections, but not in state or local elections.
Arizona law requires county recorders to perform monthly list maintenance to confirm the citizenship of federal-only registered voters. Voter registrations of people found to be non-citizens are required to be canceled, while those who are confirmed to be citizens are moved onto the regular voter list and allowed to vote in state and local elections. However, county recorders had not been utilizing all available resources to verify the citizenship status of registered voters until AFL took action last year, notifying all 15 Arizona County Recorders of the resources available to them and their legal obligations to use them.
Two federal statutes, 8 U.S.C. § 1373(c) and 8 U.S.C. § 1644, authorize state and local officials to obtain information about the citizenship or immigration status of any individual for any lawful purpose. Until now, county recorders haven’t invoked this law to get DHS’s assistance to verify the citizenship of federal-only voters. However, on January 20, 2025, the day that he took office, President Trump issued an Executive Order requiring the Secretary of Homeland Security “to ensure maximum compliance by Department of Homeland Security personnel with the provisions of 8 U.S.C. 1373 and 8 U.S.C. 1644 and ensure that State and local governments are provided with the information necessary to fulfill … citizenship, or immigration status verification requirements authorized by law.” And again, on March 25, he issued an Executive Order on election integrity that cited 8 U.S.C. 1373(c) and affirmed that “the Department of Homeland Security is required to share database information with States upon request so they can fulfill this duty” of making sure that aliens are not registered to vote.
AFL sued all 15 of Arizona’s County Recorders to compel them to enlist DHS’s aid to verify the citizenship of voters. Late last year, the County Recorders of Yavapai and Mohave Counties settled the case and asked DHS to assist the counties in verifying the citizenship of federal-only voters. Last week, Maricopa County and the remaining 12 counties joined in sending requests to DHS to verify the citizenship of federal-only voters.
