America First Legal (AFL) has initiated legal action against Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and his office. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, known as "EZAZ.org," accuses the state officials of unlawfully withholding a list of over 218,000 registered voters who have not provided proof of citizenship.
Secretary Fontes oversees Arizona's voter registration system, which mandates that individuals provide proof of U.S. citizenship. On September 6, 2024, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer identified a flaw in this system that allowed numerous individuals to register without such documentation. This issue was made public when Richer submitted an Emergency Petition to the Arizona Supreme Court on September 17.
The petition aimed to prevent these registrants from participating in state and local elections. During this legal process, Secretary Fontes acknowledged that 97,928 voters had been incorrectly marked as having provided proof due to the system error. Despite this acknowledgment, the Arizona Supreme Court decided these voters should remain eligible for state and local elections but permitted county recorders to investigate their citizenship status.
Following Richer's lawsuit filing on September 17, AFL requested public records on behalf of EZAZ.org from Secretary Fontes's office. They sought access to the list of those unlawfully registered. However, Secretary Fontes declined through his attorney's letter, which included accusations against EZAZ.org without evidence.
Arizona’s Public Records Law requires the release of such voter information upon request. Despite regular compliance with similar requests by his office in the past, Secretary Fontes did not provide examples where releasing voter lists led to harassment.
Moreover, Secretary Fontes has not shared this information with county recorders necessary for verifying citizenship status monthly as mandated by law. On September 30, he disclosed an additional set of approximately 120,000 potentially affected Arizonans due to a data oversight within ADOT’s Motor Vehicle Division and voter registration databases.
In response to these developments and what they see as a breach of legal obligations by Secretary Fontes, AFL has filed a lawsuit demanding immediate compliance with public records laws.
Stephen Miller from America First Legal stated: “America First Legal continues to lead the fight for election integrity... It is absolutely imperative that we stop the dire threat of illegal alien voting."
James Rogers from America First Legal commented: “There have been major failures in the administration... But how can Arizonans trust their elections when the person in charge... is so fervently opposed to basic transparency?"