Arizona County defends adding 98,000 people with unconfirmed citizenship to voter rolls

The Maricopa County Recorder's Office stands by its decision to restore the voter registration status of people affected by a glitch that affected 218,000 voters.

“Maricopa County has not received a complete list from the Secretary of State's Office of who may be affected by the MVD data oversight,” the Recorder's Office said in part in a statement to Fox News.

“However, when affected voters submitted a new voter registration form after the oversight was discovered, our system indicated that they would need to provide DPOC when processing their new registration form. These voters were contacted individually to inform them that their registration was incomplete. “However, after further consideration, the decision was made to fully restore these voters from unregistered status only if they were previously registered voters,” it says the declaration.

Arizona Supreme Court rules: Secretary of State must list non-citizens on voter rolls

A Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections employee works to process mail-in ballots at the State Farm Arena on November 2, 2020 in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

Now these voters can participate in the upcoming election as before, the protocol office said.

“In addition, we know that approximately 2,000 voters affected by the MVD data oversight submitted voter registration updates, and some of them may have been contacted about providing DPOC,” the statement said.

The county clerk added, “But since then, regardless of whether they provided that additional information, they have restored their original status for this election.”

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled last Thursday that the county must provide a conservative watchdog group with a list of non-citizens currently eligible to vote, following a lawsuit filed against the county last year.

As part of an evidentiary hearing Arizona Secretary Secretary of State Adrian Fontes testified that about 218,000 registered voters were affected by a system error, the court document said.

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The order notes that Fontes acknowledged having an incomplete list of approximately 98,000 voters who had not verified their proof of citizenship, but stated that a complete list of all 218,000 affected voters does not exist. Fontes attributed the mention of a full list in a government press release to “rushed writing” and unclear language. He also alleged that the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) did not provide him with a list of personal details for the additional voters who may not have adequate documentation.

However, the court concluded that his testimony was contradictory; Fontes initially denied having the list of 98,000 voters before changing his statement.

“His testimony indicated that he was unaware in detail of the AZSOS (Arizona Secretary of State) efforts regarding the matter and of the 218,000-person records in AZSOS’s possession,” the court document said.

The decision comes after AFL filed suit on behalf of the nonprofit group Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona and Yvonne Cahill, a registered voter and naturalized citizen in Maricopa County.

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AFL had given before Maricopa County a week to address the alleged non-citizens on its voter rolls.

The lawsuit alleges that as of April 2024, more than 35,000 registered voters in Arizona had not provided proof of citizenship, limiting them from voting in federal elections, according to the Arizona Secretary of State's Office.

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Maricopa County Registrar Stephen Richer said through his attorney that he would not take action, “citing voter safety concerns and concerns about the accuracy of the list,” and claimed his office was already complying the lawthe Arizona Supreme Court document says.

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