PHOENIX, AZ — A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Arizona Republicans seeking to remove up to 1.27 million voters from the state’s registration rolls, ruling the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate concrete harm. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that the case lacked legal standing.
The lawsuit, brought by former Arizona GOP Chair Gina Swoboda, Arizona Free Enterprise Club President Scot Mussi, and former Secretary of State candidate Steve Gaynor, accused Secretary of State Adrian Fontes of violating the National Voter Registration Act. They alleged that hundreds of thousands of ineligible voters remained on the rolls, including individuals who had moved or died.
Judges rejected those claims, stating the plaintiffs relied on a “substantial risk” of harm based on speculation rather than evidence. The panel wrote that the alleged risk depended on an “attenuated chain of inferences” and described the claimed harm as “entirely hypothetical.”
The court also found no evidence that any alleged voter fraud was tied to list maintenance issues or had impacted election outcomes. While the plaintiffs argued their votes were diluted, the court ruled that such concerns did not meet the legal threshold required to proceed.
The decision reinforces prior rulings that courts require clear, evidence-based claims when evaluating election-related lawsuits.
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