Suit: Local Election Chief Refuses To Clean Maricopa’s Voter Rolls

Maricopa County’s election chief is illegally refusing to undertake required voter list maintenance procedures to ensure foreign nationals aren’t voting in Arizona elections, a lawsuit filed Monday alleges.

Brought on behalf of the Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona and resident Yvonne Cahill, the legal challenge argues that GOP Recorder Stephen Richer is “ignor[ing]” his legally-required duties “to ensure that foreign citizens are removed from Maricopa County’s voter rolls.” Richer — a staunch opponent of election integrity efforts in Arizona — lost his reelection bid during Arizona’s primary elections last week.

“This lawsuit seeks to restore public trust in our State’s electoral system by holding Recorder Richer accountable for his failures and to ensure that the list maintenance required by the law and common sense — is performed,” the legal filing reads.

Plaintiffs are represented by America First Legal (AFL) and a law firm headed by former Arizona Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright.

The issue seemingly began last month when AFL sent letters to Arizona’s 15 county recorders demanding they fulfill their statutory obligation to verify the citizenship of the state’s Federal-Only voters. In Arizona, individuals who do not provide documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) when registering to vote are permitted to do so as “Federal-Only Voters” and cast ballots in federal elections. That allowance is due to a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling known as Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Ariz., Inc.

In 2022, then-Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation requiring individuals to show DPOC when registering via state voter registration forms. That law also tasked county recorders with “perform[ing] monthly list maintenance to confirm the citizenship of all Federal-Only Voters,” according to the lawsuit.

Enforcement of the law was halted by a three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week. Defendants in the case are reportedly planning to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

According to AFL, Richer responded to the group’s July 16 letter through an attorney, “brazenly stating,” as AFL described “that he would not be taking any action” and claiming his office “is already following the law about verifying the citizenship of voters.” Plaintiffs contest the accuracy of that assertion, arguing in their suit that Richer “has failed to perform” proper list maintenance as required by state and federal law by neglecting to take mandated action to ensure only eligible U.S. citizens are on Maricopa’s voter rolls.

“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. “Therefore, 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.”

[RELATED:[RELATED:How States Can Use Existing Laws To Find Foreign Nationals On Their Voter Rolls]

When pressed for comment on the plaintiffs’ allegations, a representative from Maricopa County’s recorder’s office told The Federalist that Richer “has not yet been served with the lawsuit and so has not had opportunity to review it and therefore cannot comment about it.”

“The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, however, prioritizes and prides itself on maintaining accurate, up-to-date voter rolls,” the representative said. “Under Recorder Stephen Richer, voter list maintenance has remained a top priority, removing more than 400,000 voters from the rolls since January 2021. As an administrative office, we will continue to follow the letter of the law.”

Plaintiffs have requested the Maricopa County Superior Court affirm the state’s voter list maintenance laws and require Richer to comply with them.

“Arizona has adopted first-in-the-nation laws to help make sure foreigners can’t register and to also ensure that foreigners already on the voter rolls are removed,” AFL Legal Counsel James Rogers said in a statement. “Yet, those laws have no impact if Arizona’s County Recorders ignore them.”