A records flaw could block thousands in Arizona from voting in state and local races

Election officials in Arizona have discovered a flaw in the state’s voter registration system that could disqualify nearly 100,000 people from voting in state and local races just weeks before early ballots will hit mailboxes.

A state law that went into effect in 2004 requires Arizona voters to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote in state and local elections, though individuals that do not provide proof can still register to vote for federal offices like president and U.S. Senate using a federal only form.

Arizona’s voter registration system pulls information from the state’s driver's license database as a method of proving citizenship, but the Maricopa County Recorder’s office found a flaw with the database, which incorrectly showed that some people provided proof of citizenship when they applied for a driver’s license.

The issue affects just a tiny fraction of the roughly 4.1 million people registered to vote in Arizona — roughly 98,000 voters who got a license before Oct. 1, 1996, said Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes on Tuesday.

“That's the day when Arizona started requiring proof of legal presence in the United States to get a driver's license,” Fontes said.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, who oversees early voting and voter registration in the nation’s fourth largest county, said his office discovered a glitch in that system while verifying the citizenship of a person with a pre-1996 license. The office found that the person was a lawful permanent resident but not a citizen eligible to vote.

Fontes said there is no evidence that person voted or attempted to cast a ballot.

But the discovery sent election officials in Arizona down a rabbit hole that revealed tens of thousands of voters