Arizona’s stringent proof of citizenship laws have potentially jeopardized the voting rights of an estimated 100,000 residents in local elections, just days before early ballots are set to be distributed.
According to Votebeat, the issue stems from a mistake in the Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) system. Individuals who received a driver’s license and registered to vote within a specific timeframe were incorrectly allowed to use their state ID as proof of citizenship.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer asserts that these individuals should only vote in federal elections unless they can provide proof of citizenship. Richer has submitted an emergency petition to the Arizona Supreme Court to resolve the issue before ballots are mailed. Should the court agree with Richer, affected voters will have until October 7 to provide the necessary documentation.
Are you one of the voters affected?
If you obtained your driver’s license before October 1996, requested a replacement license after October 1996, and registered to vote after 2004, you may be on the Secretary of State’s list of affected voters.
Currently, there is no way to verify if you are among those impacted. However, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes notes that the majority of affected voters are aged between 45 and 60 and tend to lean Republican.
Fontes believes these voters should be permitted to participate fully in November’s elections. “This is a legal question only,” Fontes stated in a press conference. “We are, however, taking legally different points of view so that we can have a rule of law in Arizona that we can abide by.”
Over the years, many of the nearly 100,000 voters were mistakenly permitted to vote in full-ballot elections due to a miscommunication between Arizona’s MVD and local election authorities, said Fontes. This led to these voters being incorrectly marked as having provided proof of citizenship.
“We have no reason to believe that there are any significant numbers of individuals remaining on this list who are not eligible to vote in Arizona, we cannot confirm that at this moment, but we don’t have any reason to believe that,” Fontes added.
Governor Katie Hobbs stated that the administrative error has been corrected, instructing the MVD to work with the Secretary of State to find a solution. Hobbs also announced plans for an “independent audit to ensure that MVD systems are functioning as necessary to support voter registration.”
“This flaw has existed since 2004. In every county. Across the state,” Richer said on X. “All of these people have attested under penalty of law that they are U.S. citizens…But they have NOT provided documented proof of citizenship.”
Why were these voters verified as citizens to begin with?
Since October 1996, Arizona residents have had to provide proof of citizenship to obtain a standard driver’s license. Non-citizens, such as green card holders, receive a different type of license. Before 1996, no such distinction was made.
In 2004, Arizona voters passed a law requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration. Arizona is among a few states with such a requirement, despite evidence suggesting that noncitizens voting illegally is extremely rare. Federal voter registration mandates applicants swear under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens.
Since the citizenship proof requirement was enacted, county election officials would check the issuance date of a license. If issued after October 1996, it indicated that the applicant had provided proof of citizenship.
However, the problem arose from the MVD’s practice of updating issuance dates on replacement licenses, typically issued for changes like address updates. This led election officials to assume the individual had provided proof of citizenship, even if they hadn’t.
Arizona voters who cannot provide proof of citizenship can only vote in federal races, following a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Currently, there are 41,000 “federal-only” voters on record.
This situation means that the nearly 100,000 affected voters may participate in presidential and U.S. Senate races but will be excluded from voting in state, county, and local elections or ballot propositions.
