Fontes, GOP Ask AZ High Court Let 100K Electors Vote 'Full-Ballot'
Arizona’s Democrat secretary of state and Republicans are asking the state supreme court to allow nearly 100,000 electors to vote “full-ballot” this November after it was discovered an error by government officials put their ability to vote in state and local races in jeopardy.
“We will not stand by as voters are disenfranchised, especially so close to an election,” Arizona GOP Chair Gina Swoboda said in a statement. “Rushing to disenfranchise voters now would not only be illegal but would severely undermine confidence in our elections.”
As my colleague Brianna Lyman reported, the issue in question came to light earlier this week when state officials revealed they “found approximately 97,000 voters who are currently listed as full-ballot voters despite having not fulfilled the requirement to provide documentary proof of citizenship to vote in statewide elections.” The error appears to have resulted “from the way the Motor Vehicle Division provides driver’s license information to the state’s voter registration system,” according to left-leaning Votebeat Arizona.
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said these voters “lean more heavily Republican” and are between 45-60 years old, as reported in the Votebeat article.
In Arizona, voters registering via state registration form must provide documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) to vote in state and local races. Those who are unable to provide such proof are registered as “federal-only” voters and can only cast ballots in federal races.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer filed a lawsuit with the Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday, asking that the secretary be forced to classify the 97,000 registrants as “federal-only” voters until they provide DPOC demonstrating their eligibility to vote in state and local elections. This is the opposite position of Fontes, who in a response filed Wednesday argued the court “should reject [Richer’s] interpretation of the law, and order that the Affected Voters be permitted to vote a full ballot” for the November contest.
Siding with Fontes, the Arizona GOP filed an amicus brief with the high court on Wednesday, in which they argued the relief sought by Richer “would violate both state and federal law and should be denied.”
“Here, given the proximity to the election, it is less likely that voters will stay home than they will show up to vote without knowing that there is any problem with their registration,” the brief reads. “In other words, U.S. citizen voters who have lived in Arizona for decades and consistently participated in state elections without issue are likely to show up at their polling place on November 5 only to learn that they have been disenfranchised by a state government clerical error of which they had no prior knowledge.”
Arizona’s GOP legislative leadership also reportedly requested the Arizona Supreme Court allow the 97,000 voters in question to vote “full-ballot” this November in a brief, according to a Wednesday report. As described by local media, the lawmakers argued that “the court should defer any fix until after the 2024 general election to avoid overlapping the early voting window and the notice-and-cure period.”
Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, a conservative grassroots organization, and state resident Yvonne Cahill similarly filed an amicus brief on Wednesday. Their brief, however, asks the high court to “craft a remedy … that strikes a balance” between the solutions proposed by Richer and Fontes.
“This Court should order the Recorders to send full ballots to all Affected Voters on the early voting list but should order that all ballots returned by Affected Voters be segregated pending confirmation of the voter’s citizenship,” the filing reads.
[Lawsuit: Arizona’s 15 Counties Are Failing To Remove Noncitizens From The Voter Rolls]
Strong Communities Foundation and Cahill are represented by America First Legal Foundation and a law firm headed by former Arizona Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright.
For more election news and updates, visit electionbriefing.com.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood