SCOOP: Arizona to begin removing as many as 50K noncitizens from voter rolls following lawsuit
EXCLUSIVE: All 15 Arizona counties have now begun the process of verifying and removing noncitizens from their voter rolls, including nearly 50,000 registrants who did not provide proof of U.S. citizenship.
"This settlement is a great result for all Arizonans," America First Legal (AFL) senior counsel James Rogers told Fox News Digital after his organization’s successful lawsuit spearheaded the process in Arizona.
AFL filed the lawsuit against the 15 Arizona counties last year on behalf of EZAZ.org, and Yvonne Cahill, a registered voter and naturalized citizen, arguing that the counties had not been following a state law that requires proof of citizenship to vote in local and state elections and for the state to do monthly checks of the rolls for noncitizens.
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As a result of the lawsuit, the 15 counties have now begun working with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to verify the citizenship status of all registered voters in the state who failed to provide proof of citizenship.
While a 2013 Supreme Court ruling prohibits states from imposing voter registration requirements beyond the federal requirement that registrants must check a box affirming their U.S. citizenship, Arizona residents are still required to provide proof of citizenship to vote in state and local elections.
The Arizona law also requires that county recorders perform a monthly list maintenance to confirm the U.S. citizenship of so-called "federal-only voters," a list of nearly 50,000 individuals who failed to provide proof of U.S. citizenship and were not allowed to vote in state or local elections.
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Registrants confirmed to be citizens are then moved to the regular list while those found to be noncitizens are required to have their registration canceled.
But AFL argued in the lawsuit that county recorders had not been utilizing the resources available to them to help verify citizenship status, something the Arizona law requires them to do. As a result, all 15 counties have now sent requests to DHS in order to assist their efforts to clear the voter rolls of noncitizens.
"This will help County Recorders find and remove any aliens on their voter rolls," Rogers said. "It will also potentially enfranchise federal-only voters whose citizenship is confirmed, which would allow them to vote in state and local elections. AFL congratulates each of Arizona’s 15 county recorders for taking this bold and important step for election integrity in the state."