The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors agreed on Thursday to settle a lawsuit filed by America First Legal (AFL) against Maricopa County over failing to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls. The lawsuit, which was also filed against other counties, asked the court to order county recorders to comply.
The settlement will have Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap work with the Department of Homeland Security to verify the citizenship status of federal-only voters, who were given that status since they failed to provide documented proof of citizenship (DPOC) when they registered to vote. The four Republican supervisors voted in favor of the settlement, while lone Democrat Steve Gallardo voted no.
Merissa Hamilton of The Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona (SCFA), the plaintiff, praised the “major victory” on X. “This step is also in alignment with @realDonaldTrump’s election integrity executive order to ensure only legal citizens can vote in our elections,” she said. “It will also enfranchise citizen voters since once verified by DHS, they will be able to vote the full ballot rather than a Federal-only ballot. Under the previous Recorder, the list of voters who haven’t proven citizenship grew by 41% in 15 months because he was prohibiting proper list maintenance with DHS resources.”
MARICOPA COUNTY ELECTION INTEGRITY ALERT – MAJOR VICTORY
Yesterday, @maricopacounty made a huge step forward thanks to the hard work by @RecordersOffice @azjustinheap and our Board of Supervisors in negotiating with @EZAZorg C3 arm Strong Communities Foundation of AZ and… https://t.co/AKTm8TzIBY pic.twitter.com/NzopN5JaRx
— Merissa Hamilton
(@merissahamilton) April 3, 2025
In a follow-up post, Hamilton added, “This case originally started in July of 2024. It only took getting a new Recorder for the County to follow the law!”
Vice Chair Kate Brophy McGee explained the process in a press release. “With today’s vote, we are officially stepping away from the lawsuit to allow the Recorder to move forward with a settlement which we understand won’t cost taxpayers any money,” she said. “This is not a settlement in a traditional sense where damages are awarded, but simply an agreement for the Recorder to write a letter to DHS to get some clarification.”
The press release said Heap would not need to send any voters’ names to DHS, “ instead, it simply requires him to write a letter to DHS to see if there’s more information DHS would like from Maricopa County about federal-only voters.”
Supervisor Mark Stewart (pictured above) said during the meeting, “I think we’re just in a situation where we have to provide ID or some sort of verification for just about everything we do. If you want to open a bank account by beer, if you’re 21 etc. It’s just a common sense thought that federal-only ballot should require verification of ID.
In a post on X, Stewart said, ““Our constituents in Arizona and the nation want to know that only legal voters are permitted to cast ballots in Maricopa County, so what is there to hide?”
Supervisor Lesko said during the meeting, “I think this is a big win to determine if people that are voting are indeed citizens, as required by the Constitution. And I believe this is a great settlement.”
In the press release, Lesko stated, ““I’m thrilled to vote for this settlement on behalf of Maricopa County voters who care about election integrity. To me, the intent of the original lawsuit made sense: let’s find out which of our federal-voters are citizens and which are not. If citizenship is confirmed, those voters could then vote a full ballot, rather than just a ballot with federal races, while any non-citizens would be barred from voting entirely, as the Constitution requires. I see no downside.”
The lawsuit arose after AFL and local election attorney Jennifer Wright, representing SCFA, also known as EZAZ, demanded that counties remove noncitizens from their voter rolls. Richer refused to take any action, claiming that he was already in compliance.
The complaint said 35,273 registered voters in Arizona had failed to provide proof of citizenship and were registered as federal-only voters as of April 2024, a number that continued to increase, according to a report from Maricopa County. The Arizona Legislature passed H.B. 2492 and H.B. 2243 in 2022, requiring stricter voter maintenance for federal-only voters, including removing foreign citizens from voter lists and conducting maintenance on a monthly basis.
The courts have controversially interpreted federal law, the National Voting Registration Act, (NVRA) to allow those who do not provide DPOC when they register to vote to vote in federal races.
A panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Arizona’s two laws last month for allegedly violating the NVRA, but the decision is being appealed. Judge Patrick J. Bumatay, who was appointed to the bench by President Donald Trump, dissented. He said the laws shouldn’t have been struck down for violating the NVRA “because the Constitution doesn’t grant Congress the power to regulate who may vote in presidential elections.”
An increasing number of illegal immigrants are expected to vote for Democrats.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to rachel.r.alexander@gmail.com.
Image “Maricopa County Supervisor Mark Stewart” by Maricopa County Supervisor Mark Stewart.
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