The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Friday that nearly 98,000 Arizonans with uncertain voter registration status will be able to cast a full ballot in November.
Uncertainty about the fate of voters arose after the elections Maricopa County Recorder’s office Since 2004, it has uncovered a clerical error that granted voter registration status to nearly 100,000 Arizonans even though they failed to provide documented proof of citizenship.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, D-Ariz., said in a statement: “Today is a significant victory for those who have the primary right to vote.” “We deeply appreciate the Arizona Supreme Court for its swift and fair rulings,” Fontes said.
The clerical snafu was first discovered by the Maricopa County recorder’s office earlier this month. In 2005, Arizona state law required documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. The state considers driver’s licenses issued after October 1996 as documentary proof of citizenship.
However, residents who were licensed before 1996 and subsequently received replacement IDs were automatically deemed to have “documented proof of citizenship at the MVD,” but no actual submissions were made. As a result of the tightened rules introduced in 2004, these voters were never required to follow the stricter rules, leaving 97,928 Arizonans with uncertain voting status.
“We do not want to deprive voters of the right to participate in state contests en masse due to these facts. To do so is impermissible under state law and violates due process principles,” Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer wrote in the Arizona Supreme Court decision.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer filed a lawsuit Tuesday and worked with Fontes to resolve the issue.
“Thank God” he wrote Richer in X Thursday’s decision of the court. “Thank you to the Arizona Supreme Court for your extremely prompt and professional handling of this matter,” Richer said.
In the weeks leading up to early voting in Arizona, Fontes’ office argued that 98,000 voters should be able to cast full ballots, voting at both the federal and local levels. Richer’s office argued that those voters could only participate at the federal level.
Arizona GOP Chairwoman Gina Svoboda joined them in applauding the court’s decision. “I couldn’t be happier with this outcome,” Svoboda said in an interview with NBC News on Friday night.
“We are very grateful to the state Supreme Court for protecting the votes of the 98,000 voters who were at risk of being disenfranchised in this election,” he said.
Svoboda has been critical of Arizona’s voting processes since taking office earlier this year, often calling for more public oversight of voter rolls.
But in this particular case, with early voting in Arizona set to begin next month, he finds himself aligned with an unusual bipartisan coalition of election officials.
“I couldn’t agree more with the secretary,” Svoboda said. “I think that in itself tells us all to recognize that the weight and responsibility of making the franchise available to all voters trumps any particular political interest,” he said.
Early voting in Arizona begins on October 9.
Adam Edelman contributed.