Arizona: 100,000 votes at stake over citizenship proof flaw

Maricopa County and the state of Arizona have been wrapped up in an electoral mess since 2020. There ere issues the 2022 midterms and the governor's race between Kari Lake and Katie Hobbs. Now, with the upcoming November presidential election, county recorder Stephen Richer has taken Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to court to settle whether 97,000 residents who are mistakenly registered to vote will be eligible to vote in the elections on November 5, as Fontes considers should be the case, or whether they should be limited to casting their ballot in federal races, as Richer believes.

Mandatory proof of citizenship to be able to vote in all electoral processes

Since 1996, Arizona has required proof of citizenship for those trying to obtain a driver's license. Non-citizens receive a different license which is not valid as proof of citizenship. In 2004, Arizona passed a law which requires residents to show proof of citizenship in order to be able to vote. Election officials accepted post-1996 driver's licenses as proof of citizenship, so voter registration was limited to checking that the applicant had a driver's license issued as of that year.

As a legislative capstone, the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that Arizona is required to accept the federal voter registration forms established by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The Grand Canyon State has since allowed residents who register to vote without providing proof of citizenship to receive ballots only for federal elections.

Some 97,000 voters registered as citizens never submitted proof

However, Richer's office detected an error this year that resulted in 97,000 residents being registered to vote as citizens despite never submitting proof of citizenship. The issue arose when the Motor Vehicle Division updated the issuance dates for individuals who had obtained licenses before 1996, when proof of citizneship wasn't required. For instance, this could happen if someone got a duplicate or replacement license, prompting the system to incorrectly assign a new issuance date.  

When the voter registry checked the motor vehicle division’s database, these 97,000 people appeared as citizens who had submitted proof of citizenship, allowing them to vote in all elections, though they never actually provided the documentation. In one case, Richer's office found a person registered to bote in all elections who wasn't a citizen, although they had never cast a ballot. 

The courts will have the final say

Richer reported his findings last September 6 with the Secretary of State, but they failed to reach an agreement on the proper course of action. With the deadline for counties to send ballots to military personnel or and voters abraod approaching on Saturday, September 21, and that early voting set to begin on Oct. 9, Richer took the matter to court. Now, the court will determine which ballots the affected voters are eligible to receive.

Fontes stated at a press conference that if these voters are deemed eligible to vote in the federal elections (for president and Senate), they must present proof of citizenship before 7 p.m. on Election Day to vote in state and local races or referendums. Additionally, Governor Hobbs announced that the error had been corrected after she was notified.