Database error challenges Arizona's rules requiring voters to present citizenship documents

PHOENIX (AP) — Nearly 100,000 voters who have not provided citizenship documents could be barred from participating in Arizona's state and local elections, a significant number for the swing state where elections have been very close so far.

Tuesday's announcement that there was an error in the state-run databases that led to a reclassification of voters came days before county election officials are required to mail ballots to uniformed and overseas voters.

Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Stephen Richer, the Republican recorder for Maricopa County, disagree over whether voters should have access to all ballots or only be allowed to vote in federal elections.

Arizona is unique in that it requires voters to prove their citizenship in order to vote in local and state elections. Those who have not done so, but have sworn to do so under penalty of perjury, are only allowed to vote in federal elections.

Arizona considers driver's licenses issued after October 1996 as valid proof of citizenship. However, an error in the system's coding marked 97,000 voters who obtained their licenses before 1996 – about 2.5 percent of all registered voters – as full voters, state officials said.

While the error between the state's voter registration database and the Department of Motor Vehicles has no impact on the presidential race, the voter count could be the deciding factor in the hotly contested state legislative elections, where Republicans hold a narrow majority in both chambers.

This could also impact votes on the constitutional right to abortion and the criminalization of noncitizens entering Arizona through Mexico at a location other than a port of entry.

Fontes said in a statement that the 97,000 voters are longtime Arizona residents and mostly Republicans who should be able to fully participate in the general election.

Maricopa County Clerk Stephen Richer said his office recognized the problem earlier this month. He plans to sue Fontes' office Tuesday afternoon and ask a court to classify the voters as state-only voters.

“In my opinion, these registrants do not meet the requirements of Arizona's citizenship law and therefore can only vote with a 'FED ONLY' ballot,” Richer wrote on the social platform X.