Arizona election officials have identified an additional 120,000 voters who were registered to vote without providing proof of citizenship, bringing the total number of affected voters to 218,000.
According to a press release from Arizona Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, the error occurred due to a mistake in the state’s Motor Vehicles Division database, which registered people to vote despite them not having submitted the required documentation.
This is the second time this month that officials have discovered problems with the state’s voter registration rolls. On September 17, it was announced that around 100,000 voters had been incorrectly registered due to the same error.
The issue has sparked debate among election officials, with Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer filing a lawsuit in the Arizona Supreme Court to bar the affected voters from participating in state and local elections. However, the court ruled in favor of Fontes, stating that the voters were not at fault for the database error and should not be disenfranchised.
Fontes has maintained that the affected voters are individuals who have lived in the state for decades and have attested under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens. He believes that they should be allowed to fully participate in the election, as they have met the same legal standard as every other American who registers to vote.
However, Richer has expressed concerns that the latest group of voters in question should provide the required proof of citizenship, despite their attestations of citizenship under penalty of perjury. “They might all be citizens, but they don’t have documented proof of citizenship on file with the MVD as had been understood,” he said.
The issue highlights the complexities of voter registration and the importance of verifying the eligibility of voters. While Fontes and Richer agree that the affected voters have attested to their citizenship, the lack of documented proof has raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.
