Arizona Judge Dismisses Right-Wing Challenge to State’s Voter Rolls
An Arizona district court judge dismissed a right-wing lawsuit challenging the state’s maintenance of its voter rolls.
The lawsuit was filed in June by Gina Swoboda, Chair of the Republican Party of Arizona, Scott Mussi, the president of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, and a voter against Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D). The plaintiffs claimed that at least four Arizona counties have more registered voters than adults over the age of 18, and that other counties have voter registration rates that far exceed national and statewide rates. These allegations, according to the lawsuit, are the result of poor maintenance of the state’s voter registration rolls, in violation of Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act.
The judge ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the case and gave them 14 days to file an amended complaint.
The dismissal comes after a surge of right-wing lawsuits challenging voter rolls and their maintenance procedures this past election, including in Arizona. In September, Stephen Miller’s America First Legal filed a lawsuit against all 15 counties in Arizona, challenging their voter roll maintenance practices for removing noncitizens from voter rolls.
The sudden increase in lawsuits prompted the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue guidance for how and when local and state jurisdictions can remove voters from their voter registration rolls. Notably, the DOJ’s memo mentions the 90-day quiet rule, meaning that states must complete any procedure to remove the names of ineligible voters from their list of eligible voters no later than 90 days before a federal primary or general election.