The ability of nearly 100,000 Arizonans to vote in state and local elections is headed to court after election officials said they discovered an error in their system last week, throwing the state's voter registration system into disarray less than two months before Election Day.
At issue is Arizona's unique requirement that voters provide proof of citizenship for state and local elections. A long-standing policydespite there being very little evidence that non-citizens attempt to vote.
Maricopa County Registrar Stephen Richer said Tuesday that 97,688 people statewide were registered to vote in full, though they had not actually provided proof of citizenship.
“All of these people have testified under penalty of law that they are American citizens. And, in all likelihood, [are] Almost all American citizens,” he said in a statement published in X. “But they have NOT provided documented proof of citizenship.”
Richer, a Republican, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, over whether the individuals in question should have access to a full ballot for the November election (there are about 4.1 million people registered to vote in Arizona, according to the secretary of state’s office). The matter is urgent: Arizona is scheduled to send its first ballots to military and overseas voters on Saturday.
“That is why we are going to court,” Richer wrote. “To get a clear answer.”
Why does Arizona have a proof of citizenship law?
Any U.S. voter can cast a ballot in federal elections by simply proving their citizenship under penalty of perjury. Arizona is the only state in the country that requires anyone wishing to cast a ballot in state and local elections to show documented proof of their citizenship.
As a result, Arizona residents can complete one of two forms when registering to vote: either as a federal-only voter without documented proof of citizenship, or as a completed ballot voter with documented proof.
Arizona's citizenship test saga began in 2004, when 56 percent of Arizonans approved Proposition 200, a measure modeled after California's. The infamous Proposition 187The Arizona measure, passed at a time of heightened attention to illegal immigration through the border state, required Arizonans to show proof of citizenship to access a range of public benefits, including voting.
What was the mistake?
In most cases, since 1996, Arizona has required proof of citizenship to obtain a driver's license. Thus, for most Arizonans registering to vote, having a driver's license was sufficient evidence of their citizenship: the state's voter registration system simply verified that the voter had obtained a driver's license after 1996.
However, that system had a problem.
“Unfortunately, the way the system was designed allowed a group of voters to be left out,” Richer said in his statement.
On a KTAR radio show Tuesday, Richer cited as an example a person who obtained a driver's license in 1992, but lost it in 2012 and obtained a duplicate license. The system would show an updated license issuance date of 2012.
“In that case, the voter registration system would think that you therefore have documented proof of citizenship on file,” Richer said. “When, in fact, that is not the case.”
Richer said the Maricopa County recorder's office last week discovered a noncitizen who was registered to vote for a completed ballot.
“While the noncitizen had not cast any votes in prior elections, the discovery prompted an urgent and collaborative review between county and state officials,” Richer’s lawsuit states.
“After Registrar Richer informed me of an erroneous voter registration, my team identified and corrected a clerical error that originated in 2004 and affects longtime residents who received a driver’s license before 1996,” said Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs. said in a statement Tuesday.
And now what?
Officials said the back-end error has been fixed, but election officials are now divided over what to do with the roughly 97,000 Arizonans who are registered to receive a full ballot in the November election without showing proof of citizenship.
Secretary of State Fontes said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon that those affected are mostly between the ages of 45 and 60. Republicans make up the majority of voters, followed by independents and Democrats.
Fontes said Arizona should maintain the status quo until after the November election, allowing those voters to receive a full ballot.
But Richer said that legally, those registrants should receive a federal-only ballot in November.
“He and I have a different legal perspective on what should happen here,” Richer said of his “friendly lawsuit” against Fontes' office.
There are several crucial state races at stake in Arizona, including a measure that would enshrine abortion access in the state Constitution. Both Richer and Fontes are urging the Arizona Supreme Court to issue a ruling as soon as possible.
What Should Arizonans Do?
Arizona voters can contact their local secretary of state’s office or county recorder for guidance. But for now, Fontes said, Arizonans must “wait and see.” Depending on how the court rules, voters might not have to do anything, or they might have to show proof of citizenship to vote in state and local elections.
Richer and Fontes said voters on this list will be contacted soon. Fontes added that his office is working to set up a portal for voters to submit their proof of citizenship, if the court deems it necessary before the November election.
Regardless of the legal proceedings, Fontes encouraged Arizonans to vote early.
The politics of citizenship testing
Former President Trump has in recent years revived the issue of proof of citizenship when voting, with his false claims that illegal immigrants are voting in droves.
Election officials have repeatedly denied these claims. While there are occasional cases of noncitizens registering to vote, Arizona’s secretary of state said they are “extremely rare.”
“It’s based on the mythology that there are a huge number of noncitizen voters who could swing an election one way or the other. It’s crazy,” Fontes told The Times in an interview last week. “There’s no data to support this.”
As Arizona grapples with the latest battle over its unique rules, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is seeking to make proof of citizenship for voting a national issue. In a social media post Tuesday, he said he would attach the SAVE Act — which would require proof of citizenship for voting — to his next congressional spending bill.
“I urge all of my colleagues to do what the overwhelming majority of the people of this county rightfully demand and deserve: prevent non-American citizens from voting in American elections,” he wrote.
Johnson tried to do the same last week but ultimately withdrew the proposal because it lacked support. Congress must pass a spending bill in the next two weeks to avoid a government shutdown.
The current citizenship test debacle coincides with National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday.
