Conservative groups step up push for more citizenship checks on Arizona voters

This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access.

Conservative groups want a federal judge to force Arizona counties to further investigate the status of voters who have not provided documented proof of citizenship.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court of Arizona claims that counties haven’t been checking the citizenship status of these voters using specific methods required under federal and state law, including two new state laws enacted in 2022.

It’s the latest in a slew of Republican-backed challenges to voters’ citizenship status across the country just before the November election, based on the premise that voting by noncitizens is a pressing problem in the U.S. — even though the practice is illegal and, according to experts,rare.

Former President Donald Trump and some of his allies have claimed without evidence that he lost the popular vote in 2016 because of voting by noncitizens. But any noncitizen who attempts to vote would be risking a felony charge, loss of their residency status, and deportation.

The lawsuit, brought by the Trump-aligned America First Legal Foundation on behalf of a local nonprofit, the Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, asks the court to force counties to complete the more detailed citizenship investigations, but is silent on timing. Federal law prohibits counties from systematically removing ineligible voters from the voter rolls within 90 days of a primary or general federal election.

In July, America First Legal sent a letter to all 15 county recorders asking how they had been complying with the new laws. Multiple counties have since said that they are following all voter list maintenance laws. Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, for example, responded on July 26 and said the county uses multiple tools to confirm voter citizenship, and that counties across the state are working with the Secretary of State’s Office to comply with the new laws. She stressed that the county understands the importance of proper list maintenance.

“In rare cases where someone who is not eligible actually attempts to register to vote, there are safeguards and laws to ensure that only eligible persons can vote,” Cázares-Kelly wrote.

Federal law doesn’t require voters to provide proof of their citizenship status, though they must attest — under penalty of perjury — that they are eligible citizens by marking a checkbox when registering to vote. But Arizona has unique laws that require documented proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in state and local elections.

About 40,000 registered voters in the state haven’t provided such documentation, and therefore receive a ballot that allows them to vote only for president and Congress. A December 2023 Votebeat analysis found that these “federal only” voters are more likely to be young and living on or near college campuses. Other analysis has found that they are more likely to be naturalized citizens.

County recorders, who manage voter registration in the state, already conduct detailed checks of voter citizenship when someone registers to vote. If they do not find proof of citizenship after checking state and federal databases, the registrant becomes a federal-only voter.

The two new laws, enacted by Republicans in 2022, were aimed at further restricting voting for federal-only voters and targeting them for more extensive citizenship investigations. But voting rights groups challenged those laws in court, and those challenges are still ongoing.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton earlier this year struck down the most significant sections of the new laws, including portions that would prohibit federal-only voters from voting for president or by mail. Republicans have appealed that portion of her ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the appeal is pending. The U.S. Supreme Court recently rejected most of a Republican request for an emergency stay in the case.

But Bolton affirmed the portions of the new laws that required recorders to perform more extensive and regular citizenship checks, and that required the recorders to send to the attorney general a list of their federal-only voters for citizenship investigations. Her final ruling, on May 2, came within 90 days of the July 30 primary.

America First Legal had initially sued Maricopa County before expanding the lawsuit to all 15 counties. In response to the initial lawsuit, Maricopa County said that it is fully complying with all laws and that it believes America First Legal is misunderstanding the new statutes. For example, the county wrote, the county has no ongoing obligation to send a list of federal-only voters to the attorney general.

America First Legal asserted that the lack of proper list maintenance had led to voter distrust. In response, Maricopa County said that any erosion in public trust “is largely a result of sham lawsuits that make unfounded allegations, untethered from reality, and spread those allegations over the Internet in fund raising appeals.”

Yavapai County Recorder Michelle Burchill said in an email to Votebeat on Wednesday that she uses “all databases available to check citizenship status.” She also said she has been actively trying to get access to one database that America First Legal points out should be available, through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, but “it has been a slow process and I keep getting told to contact other departments and emails.”

“If there is any additional databases available, I will absolutely use them,” she wrote. “I want to ensure all voters who are US Citizens have the opportunity to vote a full ballot. I also want to ensure that there is no NON-Citizens on my voter rolls and prevent someone from voting and getting themselves into more trouble.”

Jen Fifield is a reporter for Votebeat based in Arizona. Contact Jen at jfifield@votebeat.org.

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization covering local election integrity and voting access. Sign up for their newsletters here.