Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) said Tuesday that nearly 100,000 voters were incorrectly registered in the state as providing proof of U.S. citizenship, even though they had not done so.
Fontes explained that there was an error in state systems that labeled the roughly 97,000 voters as providing documented proof of U.S. citizenship, Votebeat reported. The Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) provides the state’s voter registration system with driver’s license information, and the error occurred in that process. Affected voters had first obtained Arizona driver’s licenses before October 1996 and were issued duplicate replacements before registering to vote after 2004, Fontes said.
The error has occurred for about 20 years and over four administrations, he noted.
Arizona is a state with the unusual situation of bifurcated elections, in which residents who provide proof of U.S. citizenship can vote in all elections while the others may vote only in federal elections, resulting in ballots cast by voters who haven’t proven their U.S. citizenship.
Since 2005, state law has required residents registering to vote in the state to provide proof of U.S. citizenship.
However, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that Arizona must accept U.S. voter registration forms because of federal requirements under the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, the state allows residents registering to vote who don't provide proof of citizenship to receive ballots for federal races only.
Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) said she ordered the MVD to fix the error and is ordering “an independent audit to ensure that MVD systems are functioning as necessary to support voter registration.”
The error was discovered by a Maricopa County worker who found a registered voter who hadn't provided proof of U.S. citizenship but was listed as a voter who could cast ballots in both federal and state elections. The voter had a green card but never cast a ballot, Fontes said.
"My office discovered this issue last week, and we have been working with the Governor's Office, the Secretary's Office, the MVD, and the Attorney General to fix this moving forward," Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer posted on his X account Tuesday.
Counties are scheduled to send out military and overseas voter ballots on Thursday.
Richer said that his "office (@RecordersOffice) is suing the Secretary's office (@AZSecretary) regarding how to handle certain voters who need to provide documented proof of citizenship."
"Moving forward (2025 onward), everyone agrees we need [documented proof of citizenship] for those voters for them to vote a full ballot," he added. "But the Secretary and I have different opinions on what the law requires for the November 5, 2024 General Election. It is my position that these registrants have not satisfied Arizona's documented proof of citizenship law, and therefore can only vote a 'FED ONLY' ballot. The Secretary argues that it is too close to the election to implement such a change and that it would be unduly burdensome on voters and deprive them of their voting rights. That is why we are going to the courts. To get a clear answer."
