Yesterday, America First Legal (AFL) issued legal demand letters to all 15 Arizona County Recorders, urging them to remove foreign citizens from their voter rolls. The letter, sent on behalf of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club and Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, calls for election officials to meet their legal obligations to prevent non-citizens from voting. AFL warned that failure to comply would result in legal action.
Last month, AFL provided all 50 states with a plan leveraging existing federal laws to prevent foreign nationals from illegally voting in American elections.
The recent letter demands that Arizona's county recorders use federal law to verify the citizenship of federal-only voters immediately. Under Arizona law, proof of citizenship is required for voter registration. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states cannot impose additional requirements beyond what the federal voter registration form stipulates for federal elections. Consequently, individuals who do not provide proof of citizenship can vote in federal but not state or local elections unless found ineligible.
As of April 1, 2024, there were 35,273 registered voters in Arizona who had not provided proof of citizenship and could therefore vote only in federal races. For context, the 2020 presidential election in Arizona was decided by a margin of just 10,457 votes.
Arizona law mandates monthly list maintenance by county recorders to confirm the citizenship status of federal-only registered voters using three specific databases: SAVE, the Social Security Administration (SSA) database, and NAPHSIS. However, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes has yet to negotiate access to these databases for list maintenance purposes.
AFL's letter highlights an alternative method for verifying voter registrants' citizenship through two long-standing federal statutes: 8 U.S.C. § 1373(c) and 8 U.S.C. § 1644. These statutes allow state and local officials to obtain information about an individual's citizenship or immigration status for any lawful purpose.
The letter sets a deadline of July 23 for county recorders to confirm they have requested citizenship information from DHS regarding all federal-only voters registered in their counties. Failure to comply will result in legal action aimed at compelling them to fulfill their statutory duties.
Gene Hamilton, Executive Director of America First Legal stated: "The integrity of our elections now potentially hinges upon millions of illegal aliens simply checking a box on a piece of paper that claims they are U.S. citizens... Every state in the nation must ensure only citizens vote in elections."