Arizona’s highest court has ruled that nearly 100,000 residents who have unconfirmed citizenship status are allowed to vote in state and local elections.
The ruling on Friday was issued a few days after state officials announced that they had discovered an error in their databases that keeps track of voters’ citizenship status. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, said on Tuesday that the error was resolved but that 98,000 voters impacted by the error were still in limbo.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, filed special action on Tuesday asking the Arizona Supreme Court to weigh in on the impacted voters’ status. The court ruled Friday that those without confirmed citizenship documents can still vote at the state and local level this fall.
Justices on the state’s high court agreed with Fontes’ argument that not allowing voters who believed they had satisfied citizenship requirements would raise equal protection and due process concerns, according to a report from the Associated Press (AP). Arizona’s Supreme Court also noted that there was only a short time before the November 5 general election for the impacted voters to resolve any issues.
“We are unwilling on these facts to disenfranchise voters en masse from participating in state contests,” Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer stated in the ruling, per the AP’s report.
This is a developing story that will be updated as information becomes available.
A voting machine is seen at a polling location during the “Super Tuesday” presidential primary in Hawthorne, California on March 5, 2024. Arizona’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday that nearly 100,000 residents who have unconfirmed voting documents can still cast a ballot in state and local elections this fall. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
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