PHOENIX — America First Legal is suing Arizona's Secretary of State for withholding a list of 216,000 voters due to a coding error. Most are longtime residents who have not proven their citizenship under the 2004 law.
The Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, a client of the conservative litigation group, has been denied public records requests.
“By denying the public access to these records, Defendants frustrate the central purpose of the Public Records Act: 'monitoring the performance of government employees' duties,” the complaint states.
“And because these records deal with pressing issues of immediate concern to the public, time is of the essence. Defendants should be ordered to immediately fulfill plaintiffs' public records requests.” In particular, it urges that the demands be fulfilled by October 7th.
But an attorney for Secretary of State Adrian Fontes expressed concern that handing over the list to nonprofit groups could lead to voter intimidation.
“Based specifically on the SCF’s filings, we believe that the true purpose of the SCF is not to monitor government actions, but instead to intimidate and harass voters and their rights during elections. “Mr. Fontes has already been vindicated in the Arizona Supreme Court,” the Sept. 24 letter explaining the decision not to honor the request said.
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that voters could receive complete ballots, given that mailing of ballots was imminent at the time of the ruling. The list was originally thought to include 98,000 people, but a total of 118,000 more people were discovered.
These voters are primarily long-term residents who were not required to meet the requirement created in 2004 to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote. The court ruled that evidence must be presented for future elections. Regardless of the outcome, the additional citizenship requirements had no impact on the federal election because they are a matter of state law.
In Thursday's update, Fontes' office said it would distribute voter data from the “initial” group across the state “along with information that will enable SAVE database verification so that county recorders can begin citizenship verification.” Said to be sending. The Post contacted the Secretary of State's office for clarification, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Fontes' office also said efforts are underway to verify proof of citizenship using “internal and external sources” in an effort to shorten the list. The agency also revised that number from about 218,000 to 216,000.
“It is important to keep in mind that this situation is not the fault of the individual affected registrants,” Fontes said. “All of the Arizonans affected by this issue continue to be voters and long-time residents of Arizona. All of them are subject to penalty of perjury (the same standards adopted by other parts of the country). certify that they are U.S. citizens based on the 2004 implementation of Prop 200 in Arizona, this issue would not even exist.”
