PHOENIX \u2014 A failure to document the citizenship status of Arizona voters is now estimated to affect as many as 218,000 people \u2014 more than double what state election officials initially said after discovering the mistake this month.<\/p>\n
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) announced the new number Monday and said the problem affects more Republicans than Democrats or independents. State election officials have previously said that the number of affected voters could change as they investigate the scope of the 20-year-old problem, which began as part of an effort to implement a Republican-led state law intended to prevent rare instances of voting by noncitizens.<\/p>\n
Arizona voters who do not provide proof of citizenship, such as a U.S. birth certificate, are not allowed to vote in state or local elections. But the state Supreme Court this month ruled those whose voting status has recently been drawn into question can vote in all races this fall.<\/p>\n
The Arizona secretary of state\u2019s announcement comes days before early ballots are slated to arrive in the mailboxes of voters in a border state that, since Donald Trump\u2019s 2020 defeat, is acutely familiar with election misinformation and illegal immigration. The disclosure will almost certainly fuel suspicion about the true scope of the problem while supercharging the false notion that noncitizens around the nation are gearing up to cast ballots in November. For months, Republicans around the country have filed lawsuits and sought federal legislation to prevent noncitizen voting, even though academics and election officials have said it\u2019s extremely uncommon.<\/p>\n
Officials have had a difficult time nailing down precisely how many of the state\u2019s 4.1 million voters were improperly recorded as having provided proof of citizenship. Initially, they believed nearly 350,000 voters were affected but later placed the figure at about 98,000. On Monday, they said additional research put the number at about 218,000.<\/p>\n
Arizona passed a law in 2004 requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that the measure cannot apply to races for the presidency and other federal offices. As a result, the state gives ballots that include all races to those who submit proof of citizenship and ballots with only federal races on them to those who do not.<\/p>\n
This month, officials disclosed that some voters had been classified as having shown proof of citizenship even though there is no record of them doing so.<\/p>\n
Fontes told election officials this month that the voters appeared to be citizens and should continue to receive full ballots this fall. Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer (R), who helps run elections in the state\u2019s most populous county, asked the state Supreme Court to take up the issue, and the chief justice three days later issued a ruling agreeing with Fontes saying the voters should receive full ballots.<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s recordkeeping issue is affecting more than elections. On Sept. 3, the top prosecutor in Maricopa County warned the governor\u2019s administration that faulty recordkeeping was leading her to change the charging criteria for aggravated drunken driving. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said her office found \u201cnumerous situations\u201d in which \u201crecords are incomplete or wrong,\u201d which complicated the office\u2019s ability to \u201cdetermine the status of a driver or ID card holder in Arizona.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the governor\u2019s office declined to comment.<\/p>\n
An audit last year of the state transportation department found extensive problems with the state\u2019s oversight of third-party vendors, according to the state auditor general report. Problems included the issuance of driver\u2019s licenses and identification cards to \u201cunqualified or unauthorized\u201d people \u2014 and a lack of \u201cdocumentation confirming individuals\/entities were qualified and\/or authorized\u201d to receive car titles or driver\u2019s licenses and identification cards.<\/p>\n
During a call about the voter registration problem this month, the governor, secretary of state and attorney general debated what to do and said they worried that it could be weaponized by those skeptical of the electoral outcomes should Democrats notch key wins, according to audio of the Sept. 10 call obtained by The Washington Post. They spoke frankly about election \u201cconspiracy theorists,\u201d the potential political implications and public-relations complications that the problem could introduce just weeks before the general election, while repeatedly noting that noncitizen voting is rare. Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) suggested limiting affected voters to receiving ballots with only federal races. Fontes and Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) pointedly disagreed and said voters should get to vote on full ballots that include federal and state races.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt puts us in a really strong position to be able to fight the fight with vigor and not from sort of the position of denying voters,\u201d Fontes said on the call. \u201cWe can be very pro-voter. We\u2019re already being proactive and that blunts the attack, which is inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayes said she worried that preventing tens of thousands of voters from voting in state races would lead Republicans to challenge Democratic wins \u2014 especially if control of the state legislature flipped in their favor and if a ballot measure ensuring access to abortion passed. By the end of the call, Hobbs agreed.<\/p>\n
On the call, which took place days after the problem was discovered, Fontes said they could deliver a straightforward message to the public about the long-running problem: \u201cWe inherited it, we identified it, we fixed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayes cut in. \u201cWell, it\u2019s not fixed yet, right?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d Fontes responded, \u201cwe\u2019re in the process of fixing it right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
PHOENIX \u2014 A failure to document the citizenship status of Arizona voters is now estimated to affect as many as 218,000 people \u2014 more than double what state election officials initially said after discovering the mistake this month. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) announced the new number Monday and said the problem affects […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":10382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}