Arizona judge orders state to release list of voters affected by registration error

The deadline for the release of the Maricopa County voters list is Nov. 4, less than 24 hours before in-person voting begins on Election Day.

State officials had identified a significant problem in Arizona’s voter record-keeping earlier that affects individuals who obtained their driver’s licenses before October 1996 and registered to vote after February 2004.

More than 218,000 registrants in the state’s database were classified as having full ballot access without confirmation they are citizens, a move that alarmed election integrity advocates and spawned an immediate lawsuit. The ruling on Thursday delivers only 98,000 names because Fontes’s office contends it does not yet possess a complete list.

The Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona filed a public records request last month, seeking a complete list of the impacted voters. However, Fontes stated that fulfilling the request before Election Day would be impossible due to concerns about the accuracy of the list and the safety of the voters involved.

In his 13-page ruling, Judge Scott Blaney determined that Fontes failed to demonstrate that disclosing the records would infringe on privacy rights or confidentiality. The judge also mandated the release of any datasets or communications related to the affected voters.

The court instructed the Strong Communities Foundation not to contact any individuals on the list or share personally identifiable information with third parties until after November 6.

“Prior to November 6, 2024, Plaintiff and its staff, members, volunteers, and affiliates may not knowingly canvass or contact any Affected Voter,” Blaney ordered.

Fontes’s office is reviewing the ruling and is weighing appeal options, according to the Washington Post.

America First Legal, which sued on behalf of the Strong Communities Foundation, lauded the decision after the “lack of transparency from our state’s election officials.”

“When Secretary Fontes discovered the glitch that allowed 218,000 individuals to register without providing proof of citizenship, he should have immediately shared the list of affected individuals with Arizona’s county recorders, who are in charge of verifying the citizenship of voters. Instead, he has jealously guarded the list, refusing to share it with anyone,” said James Rogers, senior counsel at AFL.

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The Arizona Supreme Court previously ruled that the roughly 98,000 voters who are improperly registered would still be allowed to cast a full ballot in the 2024 election, meaning the ruling would not impede anyone in this group from accessing the polls.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer said that “the vast majority of these voters are United States citizens who can provide documented proof of citizenship,” while stressing that all Arizona voters must affirm their citizenship under penalty of perjury.