The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that approximately 98,000 individuals whose citizenship papers have not been confirmed can vote in state and local races. The decision was announced on Friday by the Associated Press (AP. According to the AP, officials discovered a database error which had been incorrectly classifying these voters as having access to full ballots for over two decades.
The individuals affected were already entitled to vote in federal races regardless of the court’s ruling. The database error highlighted an issue with those voters’ citizenship statuses and affected people who obtained driver’s licenses before October 1996, then received duplicates before registering to vote after 2004, as reported by Fox News on Friday.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer (R) and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) did not initially agree on the status those particular voters should have. To resolve this issue, Richer filed a special action to the Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday, stating that these registrants had not satisfied Arizona’s documented proof of citizenship law and could only vote a “FED ONLY” ballot.
The Republican-leaning court ultimately sided with Fontes, according to the AP report. The justices stated that county officials lacked the authority to change the voters’ statuses since those individuals registered long ago, attesting under the penalty of law that they are citizens. Furthermore, the court mentioned that the voters were not at fault for the database error and acknowledged the limited time left before the Nov. 5 general election.
The AP noted that Richer and Fontes agreed with the decision. In August, 24 attorneys general were fighting for Arizona to gain permission to require voters to be U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections, as reported by Breitbart News. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) does not believe there is an underlying problem of illegal immigrants voting, stating on September 4 that “there is no evidence that undocumented migrants vote.” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), however, explained during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily that this issue exists due to the automatic registration of these individuals by the federal government through Medicaid and forced DMV registration under federal law.