Appeals court says Arizona should release list of voters with unverified citizenship

PHOENIX — The Arizona Court of Appeals on Monday affirmed a decision by a lower court that required the Secretary of State’s office to release a list of tens of thousands of voters who were mistakenly classified as having access to Arizona’s full ballot because of a coding glitch.

The court rejected an appeal by Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ office that sought to reverse the lower court’s order or at least suspend it. A group had sued in an effort to verify whether those on the list are in fact eligible to cast full ballots.

Fontes’ office had initially denied a public records request for the list of voters that was filed by America First Legal, a group run by Stephen Miller, a onetime adviser to former President Donald Trump. Fontes’ office cited concerns over the accuracy of the list and the safety of the voters included.

Fontes expressed his disappointment with the latest ruling during a news conference and vowed that officials will be watching for any instances of voter intimidation. While it was his intention to ensure that voter information would remain protected, he said his office has complied with the court order and has turned over the list to the plaintiffs.

The lower court’s ruling permitted the plaintiff to distribute the list to county recorders, the state Senate president, the House Speaker, and members of both chambers’ elections committees, which the plaintiff said it intended to share. Senate President Warren Petersen posted on the social platform X that he received the list.

Pointing to a previous ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court, Fontes said “every single one of these voters is eligible to vote and eligible to vote in every single election.”

Arizona is unique among states in that it requires voters to prove their citizenship to participate in local and state races. Those who haven’t but have sworn to it under the penalty of perjury are allowed to participate only in federal elections.

The misclassification of voters from federal-only to full-ballot voters was blamed on a glitch in state databases involving drivers’ licenses and the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division.

Several tight races in the battleground state are expected to be decided by razor-thin margins. While the batch of about 218,000 potentially affected voters won’t impact the outcome of federal contests, they could influence tight state and local races.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney ruled last week that the court received no credible evidence showing the information would be misused or encourage violence or harassment against the voters whose citizenship hasn’t been verified.

Still, Fontes reiterated his concerns Monday and used the news conference to take a swipe at the Republican-controlled Legislature. He said he has spent hours with his lawyers trying to unravel “some of these crazy rules that have been shoved down our throats.”

“It doesn’t surprise me at all that anybody is confused about this,” Fontes said, when asked about the conflicting guidance that voters are getting in some counties.