Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Arizona’s free newsletter here.
Arizona voters who haven’t proven their citizenship are being treated differently across the state as they try to update their voter registration, in some cases seeing their registration suspended entirely until they provide proof, Votebeat has found.
The disparate treatment across county lines comes as election officials decide how to comply with recent court rulings on state laws governing proof of citizenship, according to the responses nine out of 15 county recorder offices provided to Votebeat.
The confusion over how to treat these voter updates is the latest complication arising from Arizona’s unique laws, which require voters to document their citizenship in order to vote in state and local elections.
The Secretary of State’s Office gave the recorders, who manage the voter rolls, recommendations on how to comply with the court rulings, but no mandates.
In response, a few counties are processing the requested updates — such as a change of address or political party — but suspending the voters’ registrations, others are not processing the requested updates at all, and still others are processing the updates as they did before the court rulings.
The disparate treatment could affect voters’ ability to cast a ballot as soon as July, when voters from six different counties will head to the polls in a special primary election for the District 7 congressional seat, which became vacant last month when Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a Democrat, died.
In most cases, officials are immediately telling voters attempting to update their record that they must provide proof of their citizenship. But whether they immediately lose their right to vote until they provide that proof depends on which county they live in.
The policies on how to respond to voter update requests apply not only to the roughly 35,000 “federal-only” voters in the state who did not provide proof of citizenship when they registered and therefore are only eligible to vote in federal elections, but also to around 200,000 longtime residents caught up in a state error tracking citizenship, who will soon need to provide citizenship proof to keep their full voting rights.
Officials believe the vast majority of these voters are citizens, though they haven’t provided proof. A Votebeat analysis found that certain groups, such as college students and voters living on Native land, are more likely to be on the federal-only list, likely because they don’t have as easy access to documents proving their citizenship.
Local representatives for voting rights groups All Voting is Local and the League of Women Voters say unequal treatment of voters across county lines is illegal.
“I don’t think they have a basis to de-register federal-only voters,” said Alex Gulotta, Arizona director for voting rights organization All Voting is Local. “If there are counties that think they can – they are violating the law.”
JP Martin, a spokesperson for the secretary of state, said whether the disparate treatment is legal “is ultimately for a court to decide.”
The office issued recorders guidance in December and February, recommending that they process these voters’ updates normally and without changing their status, whether it is full-ballot status for the voters caught up in the state error or federal-only status for voters already classified that way. The office directed the recorders to tell voters they need to provide citizenship proof before 7 p.m. Election Day, or they will only be eligible to vote in federal contests.
“We trust that each county recorder confers with their county attorney to maintain consistent application of the law,” Martin wrote in an emailed response to questions. “Our office issues strong guidance to maintain uniform voter treatment statewide.”
Why is this happening?
Arizona has required citizenship proof to vote since 2004. Because federal law doesn’t require documented proof, though voters must attest they are citizens under penalty of perjury, voters who do not provide it are allowed to vote in presidential and congressional races only.
But now, the patchwork of laws, errors, and recent court rulings in Arizona have created a muddle for recorders trying to put the requirements into practice.
The first relevant court ruling was in August, when the U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay on a portion of a 2022 voter citizenship law. That stay – at least temporarily – requires county recorders to reject new voter registrations if they are filed on a state voter registration form and do not contain proof of citizenship.
Those registrants would have typically been placed on the “federal-only” list. Now, their registration is placed in a new “not registered” status until they provide proof of citizenship, and officials send the voter a letter telling them their registration won’t be processed until they provide the citizenship proof.
This only applies to registrants who use the state form. Voters who use a federal form without providing citizenship proof still go on the federal-only list.
It appears all counties are handling these new registrations the same way.
But while the court ruling was interpreted by the Secretary of State’s Office to apply to new registrants only, some recorders are also applying it to existing federal-only voters trying to update their records using a state form.
In at least two counties, Gila and Pinal, when federal-only voters try to update their record, their registration is placed in the new “not registered” status that prevents them from voting again until they provide citizenship proof. County officials then send a notice to the voter telling them they must prove their citizenship before voting again.
About 12,450 voters across the state have had their registration placed in the new “not registered” status since the court rulings this past summer, information obtained in response to a public records request show. This includes both existing voters who tried to update their records, as well as new voters who tried to register to vote using a state registration form, but without providing citizenship proof.
Pinal County Recorder Dana Lewis clarified that placing a voter in this status isn’t the same as cancelling a voter’s registration. If those voters show up at the polls they will be permitted to present the citizenship documentation up until 7 p.m. on Election Day, and their ballot will still count.
Other counties, including Navajo, Pima, Yavapai and Yuma, have decided to reject or suspend the update request and notify the voter of the problem. But if a voter is trying to update information and the recorder doesn’t make the change, the voter record is then likely inaccurate in some way until the voter provides citizenship proof. That means, for example, a ballot might not be sent to the voter’s correct address, or the voter might come to the polls with identification bearing an address that doesn’t match what’s on the voter rolls.
Yuma County Recorder David Lara said he believes every recorder is doing what is best for their county, despite murky direction from judges.
“They throw these things out, and they make them vague sometimes, so it leaves it up to the recorder on what is best,” he said.
Meanwhile, Maricopa County, which contains about 60% of the state’s voters, and Coconino County are processing the updates normally, not changing the voter’s status from federal-only.
Longtime residents caught in state error affected
A separate court ruling, this one from September, is affecting the update requests for a group of about 200,000 voters caught up in a state error announced this summer tracking proof of citizenship. This applies to longtime residents who have had their driver’s license since before 1996, but registered to vote — including moving across county lines — at some point after 2004.
These voters were mistakenly registered as full-ballot voters, even though they have never provided proof of citizenship. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in September that counties should not require that proof before the November election to vote a full ballot, but didn’t provide specific direction on how to handle their record after that.
This prompted the counties to make different policies about when to require the voters to prove citizenship, what to do with their registration if they do not comply by the next election, and what to do with voter updates in the meantime.
Yuma County, for example, is rejecting the updates, notifying the voter of the need to provide citizenship proof, and not making the update until the voter responds.
Pinal County, on the other hand, is processing the requested update but moving the voters to “not registered,” and notifying the voter of the need to provide citizenship proof.
And Maricopa County has chosen, for now, to process the updates normally and not notify voters of the error yet. The plan is to start notifying voters after the May elections in Glendale and Goodyear, and if they don’t provide citizenship by the July congressional election, they will be moved to federal-only, according to the recorder’s office.
Some voters in all three of these counties will be eligible to vote in the July congressional election. If they are in Pinal or Yuma, they may experience problems receiving a ballot or voting in person. But the Maricopa voters are not expected to have problems voting in the federal election.
Voting rights groups call for immediate solution
Pinny Sheoran, president of the League of Women Voters of Arizona, said the unequal treatment of voters as the District 7 special election approaches is a serious problem.
“The voters are going to show up in elections that matter to them and not be able to vote,” Sheoran said.
Gulotta called the situation a “mess.”
He said the Secretary of State’s Office has the power to issue rules to counties so that rules will be applied evenly to voters across the state.
“It’s outrageous we haven’t given clear guidance, and that local election officials aren’t acting uniformly,” Gulotta said.
State Rep. Alex Kolodin, a Republican, has introduced a bill to try to mandate a uniform approach for recorders across the state and require them all to quickly require proof of citizenship for all voters affected by the state error. It would require the voters affected by the state error to prove citizenship before voting in order to cast a ballot, and mandate that recorders remove them from the rolls entirely if they don’t provide citizenship proof by the November 2026 election.
Kolodin, who is running for secretary of state, said that Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, “has failed to provide the counties with lawful instructions that are in keeping with the Arizona Supreme Court’s order, and sadly these failures will continue to occur if he’s allowed to remain in the job.”
But Kolodin’s bill is opposed by some county recorders and the Secretary of State’s Office, which wrote to county recorders reiterating Fontes’ position that these voters should become federal-only voters if they don’t provide citizenship proof, and their registration should not be canceled.
Asked if the Secretary of State’s Office plans to take further action to see that equitable treatment occurs across the state, Martin, the office spokesperson, said that the office partners with counties to “achieve their list maintenance requirements and process voter registrations in line with state law and NVRA.”
“Our commitment to equitable voter treatment remains firm, and we will keep providing guidance to uphold that standard,” he wrote.
Jen Fifield is a reporter for Votebeat based in Arizona. Contact Jen at jfifield@votebeat.org.
