Nearly 100,000 Arizona voters may be unable to participate in state and local elections due to a state-run database error that misclassified them, a development that could impact the battleground state’s closely contested races. The error was disclosed just before county election officials must send out ballots to uniformed and overseas voters. Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Maricopa County’s Republican recorder, Stephen Richer, are at odds over whether these voters should be able to access the full ballot or only vote in federal races.
Arizona stands out as a state that mandates voters to prove citizenship to partake in local and state elections. Those who have not done so but have sworn under oath to their citizenship are restricted to participating solely in federal elections. Arizona deems driving licenses issued after October 1996 as valid proof of citizenship. However, a system error classified 97,000 voters who received licenses prior to 1996 – equivalent to roughly 2.5% of all registered voters – as eligible to vote on the full ballot, according to state officials.
While this oversight won’t impact the presidential election, the considerable number of affected voters could sway outcomes in tightly contested races within the state’s Legislature, where Republicans hold a narrow majority in both chambers. It could also influence voter decisions on state issues such as the constitutional right to abortion and the criminalization of noncitizens entering Arizona unlawfully through Mexico outside of official ports of entry.
Fontes argues that the 97,000 voters, predominantly long-time Arizona residents and mostly Republicans, should have full participation rights in the upcoming election. However, Maricopa County’s Stephen Richer, who flagged the issue earlier in the month, is planning to take legal action against Fontes, intending to have the voters restricted to federal races only. Richer shared his intent to sue Fontes’ office, citing that these registrants have not met Arizona’s citizenship proof requirements and thus should be limited to a ‘FED ONLY’ ballot.
