Dem Judge Nixes Legal Bid To Keep Noncitizens Off AZ Voter Rolls

On Friday a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a conservative group and an Arizona resident that sought to force election officials to ensure noncitizens aren’t registering to vote in the state.

Writing on behalf of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, Judge Krissa Lanham, a Biden appointee, ruled that Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona (SCFA) and state resident Yvonne Cahill lacked standing to bring their legal challenge filed against Arizona’s 15 recorders last month. As The Federalist previously reported, that lawsuit alleged that the recorders “have failed to take the actions required by law to ensure that foreign citizens are removed from their voter rolls.”

“Plaintiffs are not entitled to a preliminary injunction because they have not made a sufficiently clear showing they have standing,” Lanham wrote. “Plaintiffs’ request raises no more than a ‘generalized grievance’ shared by every Arizona voter that elected officials must follow the law.”

SCFA and Cahill had asked the court to affirm existing voter list maintenance laws and issue an injunction requiring the state’s recorders to comply with them. They specifically argued that “federal law requires County Recorders to ‘perform list maintenance’ and to engage in ‘reasonable efforts’ to ensure that foreign citizens are not registered to vote.”

“Because it is illegal for foreign citizens to register to vote in federal elections, any foreign citizen who is registered to vote is ineligible,” the lawsuit reads.

Lanham noted that she would still deny plaintiffs’ injunction request “[e]ven if [they] had standing,” citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s Purcell principle. As described by Ballotpedia, the Purcell principle is a legal doctrine originating from a 2006 Supreme Court case “establishing that courts should not change election rules during the period just prior to an election because it could confuse voters and election officials.”

“Plaintiffs waited until shortly before the election to file this lawsuit despite allegedly suffering irreparable harm since Arizona’s 2022 voter list maintenance laws went into effect,” Lanham wrote. “They have not made a clearcut showing of harm, nor that the action they request is feasible in the midst of a general election.”

The Joe Biden-appointed judge further claimed plaintiffs failed to “show that the relief they now request … will redress their claimed imminent harm of ‘disenfranchisement and vote dilution’ in the November 5 general election.”

SFCA Chair Merissa Hamilton told The Federalist the group’s attorneys are currently “looking at” whether to appeal the decision.

Friday’s decision comes amid a crisis of confidence in state officials’ ability to maintain accurate voter rolls devoid of noncitizens.

Last month, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes announced officials had discovered that roughly 98,000 registrants on the voter rolls lack documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC). Arizonans must show DPOC when registering via state registration form in order to cast ballots in state and local races. Those who do not provide DPOC when registering may do so as a “federal-only” voter and cast ballots in federal races.

An additional 120,000 registrants lacking DPOC were reportedly discovered weeks later, bringing the total of such voters to 218,000. SCFA has since filed a lawsuit against Fontes and the Arizona Department of State, alleging they “are stonewalling and have unlawfully refused to fulfill” its request for the list of these individuals.