About 98,000 Arizona voters’ eligibility is in limbo for the upcoming election following a citizenship tracking error.
The issue, caused by a coding glitch in the state’s motor vehicle database, was discovered by local election officials earlier this month. They found that some registered, full-ballot voters may not have provided citizenship documents in accordance with state law and were miscategorized on the voter rolls.
Officials are now scrambling to find solutions to the problem on a tight timeline. They must also determine next steps for impacted voters. As a first step, they are seeking guidance from the state’s highest court on whether affected voters should be allowed to cast a full ballot in November, or one limited to top-of-the-ticket races.
The court’s decision could significantly impact down-ballot races this fall. That includes statewide measures on abortion, immigration and primary elections, as well as legislative, county and city contests.
Confused? Don’t fret — it’s a complicated issue. Here’s what to know about the database error and how it could impact you.
What was the error?
Election officials found that the error was caused by the way the state’s Motor Vehicle Division provided information to its voter registration database.
Arizonans have been required to provide citizenship documents to obtain a driver’s license since 1996. When a person signs up to vote, election officials check motor vehicle records to see if they previously provided proof of citizenship.
However, the motor vehicle database was coded to change the issuance date of an Arizonan’s license if they requested a duplicate. That means someone could have gotten a driver’s license before 1996 without proving their citizenship, received a duplicate one that updated the license issuance date, and then were incorrectly registered to vote a full ballot.
The error allowed a group of voters to slip through the cracks. These voters swore under the penalty of criminal charges that they were U.S. citizens. Many have been on the voter rolls for years. Some have never voted, and some may have provided proof of citizenship.
But election officials cannot determine with absolute certainty whether those in the group handed over citizenship documents. That poses a quandary as the November election approaches.
How did officials discover the problem?
State officials say the problem came to light when one voter caught in the coding error attempted to update their registration earlier this month.
Staff in the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office discovered the voter was a lawful permanent resident — not a U.S. citizen. The person had never cast a ballot, but the issue set off alarms in several government offices and led to an investigation.
Why does proving citizenship matter in Arizona?
Only U.S. citizens can vote in elections, and states across the nation require voters to attest to their citizenship status during the registration process. Voters do so under the penalty of perjury, meaning they can be held criminally liable if they are found to have provided false information.
Arizona is the only state in the country that also requires voters to provide a birth certificate, a passport or one of a handful of other documents proving their citizenship. That law was approved by voters in 2004.
But some Arizonans haven’t provided that proof, creating a unique, two-track system. Federal courts have repeatedly ruled that state lawmakers can block voters who have not shown citizenship documents from participating in state and local races, but must allow those voters to cast ballots in federal contests. That includes the presidential race and congressional matchups.
Election officials cannot tell if impacted voters ever showed citizenship documents. They must now determine whether those voters can cast a full ballot in the fast-approaching November election, or whether they should be limited to one that only contains federal races.
Who are the voters impacted by the database error?
Affected voters first received a driver’s license or state identification card prior to 1996. That means most of them are older. Many are between 45 and 60 years old.
The largest group of impacted voters — about 37% — are Republicans. Roughly 27% are Democrats, and the remaining 35% are independents or third-party voters.
The voters live all across Arizona, spaced in rough proportion to the state’s population centers and remote areas.
Are noncitizens voting?
Evidence overwhelmingly shows that noncitizen voting is rare. Noncitizens who attempt to vote risk fines and prison time. They also could risk deportation if they are in the country illegally, or impeding their naturalization process if they are applying for citizenship.
State law mandates that county recorders “use all available resources to verify the citizenship status” of those registering to vote. This includes checking the citizenship status of federal-only voters against an immigration status verification service provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security when practicable. That system requires specific identification numbers that county officials don’t have for every voter.
Voter rolls are also routinely checked with information from the U.S. Social Security Administration, the U.S. Postal Service, the Arizona Department of Health Services and the Arizona Department of Transportation.
If another government agency tells election officials that a person registered to vote is a noncitizen, the person is removed from the voter list.
How can I determine if I’m affected?
Voters with licenses compliant with “Real ID” requirements aren’t among the group of impacted voters. Obtaining those licenses, which were authorized by the Real ID Act in 2005, requires Arizonans to show documentary proof of citizenship.
Beyond that, officials say there’s currently no way to determine if you are among the group of voters caught in the coding error. They have pledged to reach out to impacted voters as soon as possible with next steps.
Arizona voters can check their registration status at any time via the state’s election information portal, but that won’t reflect whether you are impacted by this issue.
Why is this case going to court?
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer filed for immediate legal action on the coding error in the Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon. His suit names Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes as a defendant, but officials said it was intended to be a “friendly” case to get quick clarity on how leaders should handle voters affected by the coding error.
Richer requested that impacted voters be marked as limited to voting in federal races for this election.
Fontes argued that impacted voters should remain eligible to cast a full ballot in November. He called the coding issue an “unintentional error” that shouldn’t “disenfranchise” voters.
The court is widely expected to act fast on the case. Election officials are hoping for a decision by the end of the week, before early ballots go out to overseas voters and counties begin printing ballots for in-state voters.
What else are officials doing to solve this problem?
State officials hope to use federal tools to help verify the citizenship of some affected voters. Fontes has been in touch with a fellow Democrat, Rep. Greg Stanton, who wrote to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about the issue on Wednesday.
His letter urged the agency to assist election officials in confirming voters’ citizenship status. A spokesperson said the matter had been referred to officials with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to “see what is possible.”
Stanton also contacted the U.S. State Department to see whether passport information could be used to verify the citizenship of some affected voters.
If I think I’m an impacted voter, what should I do?
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said Tuesday that Arizonans who may be impacted by the database error should “hang tight.”
He promised that the issue would be resolved and that impacted voters would be notified with instructions on next steps as soon as possible.
Wasn’t there a different voter registration matter in the news recently?
Yes. The coding error comes less than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order limiting — but not entirely eliminating — Arizonans’ ability to register to vote without providing proof of citizenship.
That decision threw the state’s unique, two-track voter registration system into disarray and prompted concerns from some officials that the change could confuse and disenfranchise some eligible voters.
Since then, officials have been working to finalize details of how they will handle registrants who end up in limbo under the new voter registration rules.
Both the database error and the U.S. Supreme Court order impact voter registration and may put some voters’ eligibility into question. However, they are two separate matters.
Sasha Hupka covers county government and election administration for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X: @SashaHupka. Follow her on Instagram or Threads: @sashahupkasnaps. Sign up for her weekly election newsletter, Republic Recount.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Are you among the 98K Arizona voters in limbo? Here’s what to know
