With just weeks before the 2024 presidential elections, securing a fair and honest election should be the top priority for states— except for Arizona.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is moving forward with allowing 218,000 people with unconfirmed citizenship to vote in the federal election despite concerns illegal immigrants have been peddled into the U.S. to boost votes for the Democratic candidate.
Under 2024 state law, Fontes revealed the number of registered voters but never provided the required legal proof of citizenship. The Democrat revealed last week that that number had doubled, describing it as an “evolving situation.”
Just one week ago, the number was 97,928.
The conservative group America First Legal and a Republican state lawmaker filed a lawsuit demanding a voter list. However, Fontes, a Democrat, refused to provide the list. As a result, an Arizona court will hear arguments on Oct. 15 over his refusal to hand over the list of voters.
Fontes claimed that those in question of their citizenship were required to confirm they were U.S. citizens under penalty of perjury when first registering to vote. However, the Department of Transportation either did not ask for documented proof of citizenship or did not record it in the system—a state law requiring people to vote in state and federal elections.
The problem lies within the National Voter Registration Act, which states that removing large numbers of voters from voter rolls within 90 days of an election is a violation and would be subject to a federal lawsuit.
“I think this is a super delicate situation, and it’s going to require exactly the right approach,” Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Gina Swoboda said. “What are you going to do? You can’t deprive these people of your ballot. You just can’t. It’s the 14th Amendment.”
Fontes and Swoboda have insisted that all 218,000 people are U.S. citizens. However, the issue came to light after an election official in Maricopa County found that one of the registered voters was a noncitizen.