PHOENIX - A federal judge has slapped down a bid by an Arizona group to force county recorders to immediately investigate whether more than 40,000 registered voters are citizens.

In a 22-page order, Judge Krissa Lanham said Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona lacks standing to challenge what the group claims is the failure of county officials to run citizenship checks on those who have signed up to vote only in federal elections. The judge said the group has failed to show any harm that would occur if she did not issue such an order.

Lanham said the same is true for Yvonne Cahill who also joined in the lawsuit. The judge rejected any claim that Cahill, a naturalized citizen, would have her vote diluted if it turns out any of these federal-only voters are not citizens.

But the judge said there's an even bigger problem: timeliness.

She said that the lawsuit is based, at least in part, on what challengers contend is the refusal of all 15 county recorders to follow a 2022 state law requiring them to send inquiries to various federal agencies to check the citizenship status of those federal-only voters.

"Plaintiffs waited until shortly before the election to file this lawsuit despite allegedly suffering irreparable harm since Arizona's 2022 voter list maintenance laws were into effect,'' Lanham wrote.

She also ruled they are asking her to order counties to do this work in the middle of an already ongoing election: The claim was filed 24 days before early voting began on Wednesday. That, said the judge, is not acceptable.

Merissa Hamilton of Strong Communities said the group's attorneys are evaluating the ruling.

At the heart of the lawsuit is Arizona's two-tiered voter registration system.

Those who provide documented proof of citizenship, required under a 2004 voter-approved law, are entitled to vote in all elections.

But the National Voter Registration Act says individuals without such proof can sign up to vote in federal elections - president and members of Congress - simply by signing an avowal, under penalty of perjury, that they are citizens and otherwise qualified to cast a ballot. At last count there were about 42,000 on that list.

The law does make it illegal for noncitizens to vote.

Aaron Thacker, press aide to Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, said there is little basis to believe that there are many people who have signed up to vote - and signed a sworn statement under penalty of perjury - who are not actually allowed to cast a ballot.

"The federal-only ballots are made up of groups like Native Americans, college students and the elderly,'' Thacker said, those who may not have easy access to the documents to prove citizenship.

Lanham said there's another problem with the lawsuit.

That's also the assessment of Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cazares-Kelly who wrote to attorneys from Strong Communities when they first threatened to sue her.

"Reality has proven that as a general rule, those who are not citizens do not register to vote.'' Cazares-Kelly said. "In rare cases where someone who is not eligible actually attempts to register to vote, there are safeguards and laws to ensure that only eligible persons can vote.''

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