How Arizona’s 218,000 Voters Who Can’t Prove Citizenship Could Affect Election

Arizona admitted a massive error in its voter rolls, but the state’s top election official still hasn’t shared with localities  the list of 218,000 registered voters who lack proof of U.S. citizenship.

The number of voters who can’t prove citizenship amounts to 5% of Arizona’s registered voters, but will affect who may vote in state and local elections that include referendums on abortion and illegal immigration. 

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, said Monday that the number of misclassified voters—initially thought to be 98,000—is more than twice as many: 218,000.

A spokesperson for the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, which oversees elections in the state’s most populous county, said local governments are still waiting for the names of those voters and how many registered in their county. 

“Those numbers would come from the secretary of state’s office,” Taylor Kinnerup told The Daily Signal in an email. “Maricopa County, along with all other counties, are awaiting further direction and clarification from the SOS [secretary of state] on this topic.”

Arizona is a hotly contested battleground state in this year’s presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, which culminates Nov. 5. 

In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden beat Trump, the Republican incumbent, by about 10,400 votes or 0.3% in Arizona. Trump carried the state in 2016 against Democrat Hillary Clinton by about 3%.

As secretary of state, Fontes should provide more information to local election officials and the public, said Merissa Hamilton, founder and chairwoman of the Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, a watchdog group.

“Since the secretary won’t give the list of impacted voters or the databases to the [election] recorders, we cannot know how many more noncitizens could access a ballot,” Hamilton told The Daily Signal. 

Hamilton has worked for Kari Lake, a Republican candidate in Arizona’s Senate race who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2022. 

“Secretary Fontes should immediately release the complete list of the 218,000 voters to the county recorders and give them access to the databases needed to properly maintain their voter rolls,” Hamilton later added. “The county recorders should make cleaning noncitizens off the voter rolls the top priority to ensure voter confidence in the election.”

The Daily Signal previously reported that Arizona has 611,717 noncitizens of voting age, although it’s not known how many of them are registered. A peer-reviewed 2014 study by professors at Old Dominion University and George Mason University estimated that 6.4% of noncitizens voted in the 2008 national presidential election.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Sept. 20 that the initially known 98,000 voters who lack proof of U.S. citizenship would remain on the rolls since they weren’t at fault. The secretary of state’s office said the high court’s ruling should apply to the additional 120,000 registered voters who can’t prove citizenship. 

It’s not clear how many of the 218,000 total are noncitizens. But the system error in the state’s Motor Vehicle Division likely doesn’t affect who would vote in the presidential or congressional races. That’s because Arizona may require proof of citizenship only to vote in state and local elections. 

Under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, a state can’t impose requirements for federal elections. However, the 218,000 number prompts concerns because federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting or registering to vote. 

The Arizona Department of Transportation, which oversees the Motor Vehicle Division, told The Associated Press that it created the coding system. 

Voters who lack proof of citizenship may sign an oath that they are U.S. citizens under penalty of perjury, allowing them to vote in federal elections. 

Hamilton, of Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, said local election officials should run the names against databases in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements; the Social Security Administration; and the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems.

“It’s clear that even a small percentage of these 218,000 voters being noncitizens could sway the outcome of elections in Arizona,” Hamilton said. “This underscores the urgent need for action to address the issue of noncitizen voters and ensure the integrity of our democratic process.” 

Hamilton said a comprehensive solution is needed to ensure no more mistakes by the Arizona Motor Vehicles Division, which signed up the voters. 

“Public records acquired by our organization confirm that the Maricopa County recorder has on record a jury duty questionnaire that states the voter is a citizen of France,” Hamilton said. “Yet, he can access a full ballot after the Motor Vehicle Division generated a voter registration application in 2023 and Maricopa County processed it without seemingly further review.”

She added:

Another voter we submitted a public records request on is registered to vote at a house he doesn’t live at per the current and previous homeowners and was issued a Federal Only voter registration status this year without what looks like having any additional research done in the federal databases to confirm his identity.

Arizona enacted its proof-of-citizenship law in 1996; the law went into effect in 2004. Driver’s licenses issued after 1996 are considered legitimate forms of citizenship verification to vote in federal, state, and local elections. However, a network system error marked a large batch of voters with pre-1996 driver’s licenses. This is where most of the 218,000 were flagged. 

The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office didn’t respond before publication to The Daily Signal’s question about whether it shared information with local election officials. 

The office’s press release says: “Election officials will contact the affected Arizonans with information regarding their status after the conclusion of this general election if necessary.” 

The release doesn’t specify which election officials, state or local. 

Election officials in Pima County, Arizona’s second-most-populous county, also didn’t respond by publication time. 

The press release from Fontes’ office says the 216,000 it discovered includes about 79,000 Republicans, 61,000 Democrats, and 76,000 who registered with another party. 

“The reality is these registrants have met the same legal standard as every other American who registers to vote: swearing under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens,” Fontes said in a public statement. “We can’t risk denying actual citizens the right to vote due to an error out of their control. This issue is another example of why we need to fund elections, update systems and staff, and carry forward our proven tradition of safe, fair and secure elections.”

Gina Swoboda, chair of the Arizona Republican Party, said Fontes “repeatedly demonstrated a complete inability to execute the core functions of his position” and called for him to “deliver the list of impacted voters to all 15 county recorders.”

“The voters of Arizona have a total loss of confidence in Secretary Fontes,” Swoboda said in a written statement. “The AZGOP will continue to work toward transparency in all of our elections process.” 

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