Many Arizona voters whose registered addresses on the voter rolls belong to a business establishment have been discovered by an investigation by an election integrity watchdog group.
Published on Tuesday, the documentary follows the Public Interest Legal Foundation’s ( PILF ) Lauren Bis as she visits bars, gas stations, and other venues listed as the residence for individuals on Arizona’s voter rolls. A “registrant’s actual place of residence,” which is defined as” street name and number, room or space range, city or town, and zip code, or such depiction of the location of the home that can be easily ascertained or identified,” are required on voter registration forms.
A Post Office Box or a business address may not be included on these subscription forms, but it is against the law for people to do so.
According to Bis,” The Public Interest Legal Foundation has located and examined lots of professional lists where people in Arizona are registered to vote.” ” Some of these names include an abortion clinic, petrol stations, liquor shops, vacant lots, a large school, a smoking shop, gun store, fast food chain, strip clubs, golf courses, and cafes”.
Bis is seen obtaining a bottle of water at what appears to be a gas station, according to one instance that the documentary highlights. While paying, she asked the cashier if she knows whether” Josie]last name redacted ] lives here”. After asking Bis to repeat the name, the cashier looking baffled, shook her head.
Are you asking if” she works here”? the cashier probed, to which Bis replied,” Lives here. I sent her this address.
” This is a business”, the cashier said.
Since before the 2020 election, PILF has been informing Arizona election officials about issues on the Arizona voter rolls. Four years later, and the state has done nothing to fix the problem”, Bis told viewers.
Another dubious registration identified in the investigation is the property of a man by the name James, whose address is reportedly connected to a bar. Upon venturing into the establishment, Bis asked a waitress about whether James lives there.
” Lives here? No”, the server said. ” He does work here. But I do n’t think he’s here right now”.
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Sadly, voter roll issues have become a major issue in recent years for Arizonans concerned about the integrity of the state’s elections.
Last month, Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes , revealed , officials had discovered approximately 98, 000 registrants on the voter rolls lacking documentary proof of citizenship ( DPOC). Arizonans , must show , DPOC when registering via state registration form in order to cast ballots in state and local races. Those who do n’t provide DPOC when registering may cast ballots in federal elections as “federal-only” voters.
An additional 120, 000 registrants lacking DPOC were reportedly , discovered , weeks later, bringing the total of such voters to 218, 000. Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona (SCFA ), a conservative grassroots organization, has since , filed a lawsuit , against Fontes and the Arizona Department of State, alleging they “are stonewalling and have unlawfully refused to fulfill” its request for the list of these individuals.
In court proceedings on Tuesday, Fontes ‘ attorney Craig Morgan reportedly argued that releasing the list of names before the November election would, as the Arizona Daily Star described, “lead to voter intimidation”.
Morgan stated that he has no doubt that the final list of names will be public record, and that he has also stated that there has n’t been a full evaluation of the list yet. Morgan did point out that there are reasons not to force Fontes to make the list right away, before the election, because Strong Communities’ or those connected to it will abuse it.
America First Legal ( AFL ) Attorney James Rogers, whose organization is representing SCFA in the case, rejected such an argument, saying Morgan’s “insinuation” is baseless.
” Our client does voter outreach all the time”, Rogers said. ” Never been a single complaint … Our client and none of our client’s volunteers have ever done the kind of things that he’s talking, as far as we’re aware”.
The AFL attorney added that Fontes does not “have a right to hold that list to tell us if there is a problem and not let anyone see it or conduct any outside vetting on it.”
The Federalist staff writer Shawn Fleetwood graduated from the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClear Health, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood