Politics
Arizona officials reach agreement to return 25 citizens to Maricopa County voter rolls
Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap is expected to restore voting status for 25 people whose citizenship has been confirmed, after a judge urged him and state officials to resolve the dispute. The voters were flagged by a federal database and removed from active status, prompting a lawsuit by Arizona’s attorney general and secretary of state.
Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap is expected to restore the voting status of 25 people confirmed to be U.S. citizens after mediation with state officials on Friday, Oct. 23, Attorney General Kris Mayes said.
The agreement followed a lawsuit filed earlier in the week by Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. At a Friday hearing, a judge directed the county recorder and state officials to work together to address the voters’ status. The attorney general’s office said it had the voters’ driver’s license records available, and Heap’s attorney, James Rogers, said Heap could restore them that day after reviewing the records.
The dispute stems from a problem in Arizona driver’s license records that allowed some longtime voters to register without the proof of citizenship required by state law. In February, Heap’s office checked about 61,000 voter records against the federal SAVE citizenship database. The system flagged 207 people as potential noncitizens; Heap marked them ineligible for voting and referred their names to prosecutors.
County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in September that 52 of the 60 flagged voters who had previously cast ballots were citizens, while eight were not. Heap cleared 27 of the 52 citizens, leaving the remaining 25 without active voting status.
Mayes and Fontes argued that a database flag alone was not sufficient grounds to downgrade voters under state law, which they said requires proof that a person is not a citizen. They also sought regular ballots for the affected voters rather than provisional ballots, which may not be counted.
“It should not have taken litigation to make Justin Heap follow the law — that is his duty and the duty of all election officials,” Mayes said in her announcement.
Before the hearing, Heap said the dispute concerned documentation, not whether the voters were citizens. “If they’re citizens, and we’re not arguing they’re not, the problem is that Arizona requires that we have documented proof of citizenship,” he said, adding that he could not find a law allowing him to rely on another agency’s records.
The case highlights the consequences of using imperfect database matches to make decisions about voter eligibility. The SAVE database is known to produce errors, and the status of the 25 voters remained unresolved until state officials brought the matter to court.