Judge supports America First Legal’s bid to secure a list of 218,000 voters without proof of citizenship

America First Legal (AFL) on Thursday won its lawsuit against Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) over 218,000 voters who were incorrectly registered as proof of U.S. citizenship.

The Arizona Superior Court in Maricopa County ruled Thursday that Fontes must provide the list of more than 218,000 voters who did not submit proof of U.S. citizenship by Monday.

“Defendants will deliver to Plaintiff, no later than noon on Monday, November 4, 2024, the original list of approximately 98,000 affected voters, as specifically identified in Richer v. Fontes,” the court order reads.

“Defendants must deliver to Plaintiff, no later than noon on Monday, November 4, 2024, any other data sets, compilations of information, lists or communications from MVD that contain personally identifiable information (PII) about affected voters” , the court added.

AFL sued Fontes earlier this month, after the secretary of state’s office said a 120,000 additional Arizona residents They were found to have been included on the state’s voter rolls as proof that they are American citizens, even though they had not done so.

Approximately 79,000 Republicans, 61,000 Democrats and 76,000 members of other parties have been affected.

The secretary’s announcement came two weeks after he explained that there was a error in state systems that labeled approximately 98,000 voters for having provided documented proof of U.S. citizenship when they had not.

Arizona is a state with the unusual situation of bifurcated elections, in which residents who present proof of U.S. citizenship can vote in all elections while others can vote only in federal elections, resulting in votes cast by voters who do not. have proven their American citizenship. .

The AFL argued in its lawsuit that the Secretary of State’s office illegally withheld the list of 218,000 voters who had not provided proof of citizenship. Fontes’ office denied a public records request for the list and county recorders have also not received the list, even though state law requires local offices to vet registered voters without proof of citizenship.