PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s secretary of state must release a list of tens of thousands of voters wrongly classified as having access to the entire ballot because of an encryption error, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ office initially denied public records requests for the list submitted by America First Legal, a group led by Stephen Miller, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump. Fontes’ office raised concerns about the accuracy of the list and the safety of voters.
Judge Scott Blaney said the court had not received credible evidence showing that the information would be misused or would incite violence or intimidation against voters whose citizenship has not been verified. Blaney set a deadline Monday afternoon for Fontes’ office to release a list of 98,000 voters and information Fontes relied on when he announced in early October that even more voters had been affected — for a total of 218,000.
Arizona is one of the most closely watched states given its status as a presidential battleground, and both campaigns have increased their presence in recent weeks to court undecided voters. The coding error does not affect federal races. But it led to a decision by the state Supreme Court in September that the misclassified voters — who represent about 5% of all undecided voters — could still vote the entire ballot, even though officials have not confirmed whether they are U.S. citizens.
That number of voters could tip the balance in tight local and state races, as well as in fiercely competitive ballot measures on abortion and immigration. Voters are almost evenly registered as Democrats, Republicans or neither party.
Fontes has said he has the list of 98,000 voters, but not a more comprehensive list, despite claiming many more have been affected. His office said Thursday it is reviewing Blaney’s decision and weighing options.
Blaney restricted the Strong Communities Foundation and its legal counsel, America First Legal, from distributing information they received from Fontes’ office before Election Day on Tuesday to anyone except county recorders, the Arizona Senate president and Speaker of the Arizona House and members of the elections committee.
America First Legal attorney James Rogers said in a statement Thursday that the group is hopeful the data can be used to verify the citizenship of voters on the list.
“It is unfortunate that Secretary Fontes so aggressively resisted our common-sense efforts to help restore confidence in our state’s election system,” Rogers said.
The ruling also requires Fontes’ office to release communications and data transmissions with a number of government agencies, including the Arizona Department of Transportation and Gov. Katie Hobbs’ office.
The misclassification of voters from federal-only voters to full-vote voters was attributed to a glitch in state databases related to driver’s licenses and the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division.
Arizona is unique among states in requiring voters to prove their citizenship to participate in local and state races. Those who have not done so, but have sworn to do so under penalty of law, may only participate in federal elections.
The state considers driver’s licenses issued after October 1996 to be valid proof of citizenship. However, the coding error in the system incorrectly marked 218,000 voters who were licensed before 1996 as fully eligible voters, state officials said.
