Arizona Voter Roll Maintenance Challenge (1789 Foundation)

Lawsuit filed by the 1789 Foundation (Citizen AG) and a voter against Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) challenging the state’s maintenance of its voter rolls. The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) requires states to maintain their voter rolls by contacting voters who may no longer be eligible to vote in the state due to a change in residency. If a voter does not respond to the state’s confirmation notice, they must first be marked as inactive for two federal election cycles before they are fully removed from the state’s voter rolls.  

On Oct. 4, 2024, Citizen AG submitted a request to Fontes for any information or records related to the numbers of voters who became inactive due to their failure to respond to confirmation notices. In response, Fontes’ office told the group that they did not have any records responsive to its request. The plaintiffs conducted their own research and allege that there are over 1.2 million individuals who have not responded to confirmation notices yet remain active on the state’s voter rolls and eligible to vote in the 2024 general election.

The plaintiffs argue that Fontes violated the NVRA’s public inspection provision which requires states to maintain and make available to the public all records related to voter registration for at least two years. They also argue Fontes violated the NVRA’s maintenance requirements by allowing 1.2 million allegedly ineligible voters to remain on the voter rolls. The plaintiffs ask the court to order Fontes to provide them the records they requested, and direct local election officials to remove all allegedly ineligible voters from the voter rolls before the 2024 general election or allow those voters only to vote provisionally.

The plaintiffs filed their complaint on Oct. 30, 2024. 

STATUS: On Nov. 1, 2024, the court denied Citizen AG’s request to remove 1.2 million voters from Arizona’s voter rolls, but ordered the state to provide the group with its voter roll maintenance records.