Arizona's 15 counties settle lawsuit, take action to identify non-citizens on voter rolls

All of Arizona's 15 counties have settled a lawsuit brought by America First Legal (AFL), and are taking action to identify non-citizens on their voter rolls.

As part of the settlement, the counties have asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to verify the U.S. citizenship of federal-only voters. In Arizona, registered voters who have not provided proof of U.S. citizenship can only vote in federal elections, not state and local elections.

AFL announced the settlement on Monday, after it was filed in court on Wednesday.

“This settlement is a great result for all Arizonans,” AFL Senior Counsel James Rogers said in a statement on Monday. “This will help County Recorders find and remove any aliens on their voter rolls. 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.”

The settlement is the result of AFL filing the lawsuit in September on behalf of Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona and a registered voter who is a naturalized citizen, after filing a complaint against Maricopa County the prior month.

The case against Maricopa County began after AFL sent letters to election officials in all 15 counties in July, demanding that they prevent non-citizens from voting and threatening legal action if they did not. The Maricopa County lawsuit alleged that election officials were not following state law, which requires monthly voter list maintenance to ensure non-citizens are not on the county's voter rolls.

Maricopa County moved the case to federal court, which allowed AFL to sue all 15 counties together, rather than just Maricopa.

AFL argued that two federal laws "allow State and local officials to obtain information about the citizenship or immigration status of any individual for any lawful purpose," but that county officials had not used them for voter roll maintenance.

As of January 2nd, nearly 50,000 people were registered to vote in Arizona without proof of citizenship and/or residency.

In November, the county recorders of Yavapai and Mohave settled the case and asked DHS to verify the citizenship of their federal-only voters. The other 13 counties settled the lawsuit on Wednesday.