100K AZ Voters Affirmed ‘Full-Ballot’ Status After Registration ‘Error’
The Arizona Supreme Court recently decided to allow nearly 100,000 voters to participate in the upcoming November elections as “full-ballot” voters, following a registration error linked to state officials. The issue arose when it was discovered that these voters had not provided the required documentary proof of citizenship during the registration process, yet they were still classified as eligible to vote in full state contests. Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer emphasized that disenfranchising these voters would not only be unjust but also inconsistent with state law. The registration error appears to stem from how the Motor Vehicle Division transmits driver’s license information to the voter registration system. The court’s ruling rejected a request from Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer to classify these voters as “federal-only” voters, who would only be permitted to vote in federal elections, indicating that the administrative failure should not penalize the voters. The decision reflects a broader concern about voter access and fairness in the electoral process.
On Friday, the Arizona Supreme Court authorized nearly 100,000 voters to vote “full-ballot” this November after election officials found a government-induced “error” put their registration statuses into question.
“[W]e are unwilling on these facts to disenfranchise voters en masse from participating in state contests,” Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer wrote. “Doing so is not authorized by state law and would violate principles of due process.”
The issue came to fruition last week when state officials revealed they discovered roughly 97,000 voters on the state registration lists are classified as full-ballot voters despite not having provided documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC). According to left-leaning Votebeat Arizona, the decades-old error appears to have resulted “from the way the Motor Vehicle Division provides driver’s license information to the state’s voter registration system.”
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said these voters “lean more heavily Republican” and are between 45-60 years old, according to the outlet.
In Arizona, voters registering via state registration form must provide documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) to vote in state and local races. Those who are unable to provide such proof are registered as “federal-only” voters and can only cast ballots in federal races.
Following last week’s revelation, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer filed a lawsuit asking the state supreme court to force Fontes to classify the 97,000 voters in question as federal-only voters until they provide DPOC. Fontes and leading Arizona Republicans disagreed and argued these voters should be allowed to vote full-ballot this November.
Siding with Fontes and Republicans, Timmer denied Richer’s request and determined that the Maricopa County recorder “has not established that the county recorders have statutory authority to remove the Affected Voters from being able to vote in the upcoming 2024 General Election for federal offices and with respect to matters on an Arizona ballot.”
“This is particularly true under the present facts, where a state administrative failure permitted the Affected Voters to be registered without confirming that they provided DPOC when they received their driver’s licenses and where there is so little time remaining before the beginning of the 2024 General Election,” the chief justice wrote.
The high court also denied a motion to intervene filed by Arizona’s GOP legislative leadership but granted their request “to alternatively file their response to the petition as amicus curiae and their request to exceed the permitted word limit in their brief.”
Prior to Friday’s ruling, Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, a conservative grassroots organization, and state resident Yvonne Cahill similarly filed an amicus brief requesting the high court “craft a remedy … that strikes a balance” between the solutions proposed by Richer and Fontes and state Republicans. Specifically, they asked the court to mandate county recorders “send full ballots to all Affected Voters on the early voting list but … order that all ballots returned by Affected Voters be segregated pending confirmation of the voter’s citizenship.”
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