How a decades-old ‘administrative error’ could impact 97,000 Arizona voters

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office and the Arizona Secretary of State are asking the Arizona Supreme Court to rule on ballots of nearly 100,000 registered state voters after a two-decades-old “administrative error” was discovered.

The issue centers around a 2004 Arizona law that requires residents to provide documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) to register as “full-ballot voters,” allowing them to vote in all federal, state and local races. Those who don’t provide proof of citizenship can only register to vote in federal races.

The law also states a driver’s license issued after Oct. 1, 1996, is valid as proof of citizenship. When a county enters a voter registration application into the statewide voter registration database (AVID), it checks driver’s license records, including the issuance date, from the Arizona Department of Transportation (MVD) database.

A problem was discovered in how duplicate driver’s licenses are issued. MVD issues duplicates as replacements, but they are not renewals. If an applicant was issued a license on or before Oct. 1, 1996, then got a duplicate after that date, the MVD record is updated to the date the latter was issued.

The AVID system would only see the duplicate issuance date and not be alerted to any issued before Oct. 1, 1996, when documented citizenship was not on file.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer discovered the error earlier this month, which potentially impacts 97,000 registered voters who he says fell “through the cracks.”

“All of these people have attested under penalty of law that they are U.S. citizens. And, in all likelihood, they almost all [are] U.S. Citizens. But they have NOT provided documented proof of citizenship,” Richer posted on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Without documented proof of citizenship, those voters could be limited to voting only in federal races.

Arizona is required to accept the federal registration form, but anyone who does not provide proof of citizenship is only allowed to vote for president, the U.S. House or Senate. This requirement was reenforced earlier in a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The federal form requires people to swear they are U.S. citizens, but there is no proof requirement. A 1996 law says noncitizens who vote illegally will face a fine, jail time or both. Noncitizens who cast a ballot may also face deportation.

The affected voters include anyone who received a driver’s license before Oct. 1, 1996, and then registered to vote for the first time after, or moved to a different county and received a duplicate license.

The issue impacts roughly 2.5% of all registered voters, and about nearly 10 times the margin that decided the 2020 Presidential Election for President Joe Biden.

Richer says his office is asking the Arizona Supreme Court to make an emergency ruling in order to gain legal clarity and steps to move forward on the upcoming November election.

“If we find out from the courts that this is something that we have to take action on before the election then rest assured no matter where you live in the state of Arizona,” Richer told Arizona’s Family. “If you’re one of the rare accounts that has been affected by this unique set of circumstances, then your county recorder or the Secretary of State will reach out to you such that we can make sure that everyone who’s eligible to vote a full ballot does wind up getting a full ballot with both the federal contest on it and the state local contests.”

“All county recorders election directors across the state of Arizona have been briefed on this friendly litigation, and I will classify it as friendly litigation, because this is the plan that we have come up with. Here’s the legal fight, because there are no fights,” Fontes said about the emergency petition filed by Richers’ office. “We are, however, taking legally different points of view so that we can have a rule of law in Arizona that we can then abide by. We just want them to answer the question.”

What are Arizona politicians saying about the voter registration error?

“Like most Arizonans, I’m disturbed to learn that nearly 100,000 people – mostly Republicans and Independents – could be disenfranchised from voting in state and local elections this November because of a decades-old coding error. I have spoken with the Secretary of State, and will do everything in my power to ensure all eligible voters are able to cast a full ballot this November,” said Arizona Congressman Greg Stanton.

“After Recorder Richer brought an erroneous voter registration record to my attention, my team identified and fixed an administrative error that originated in 2004, and affects longtime residents who received a driver’s license before 1996,” Gov. Katie Hobbs said in a prepared statement. “As soon as I became aware of the problem, I directed MVD to work with the SOS to aggressively develop and implement a solution and, out of an abundance of caution, will be implementing an independent audit to ensure that MVD systems are functioning as necessary to support voter registration. I’m proud of MVD for their hard work implementing a fix to this problem in record time.”

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