The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Feb. 18, 2025
Today’s Script
(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)
In September 2024, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes announced an error in state voter rolls involving 97,000 voters, revolving around a state DMV data error. That number has risen to nearly 200,000, and an easy fix still hasn’t been found.
In 1996, Arizona began requiring proof of citizenship when obtaining a driver’s license. Since 2005, election officials have asked registered voters with licenses issued before 1996 for proof of citizenship. But if a driver’s license issued before 1996 needed to be replaced, it was accidentally given a new date of issue, and election officials never knew to ask for citizenship documents.
Votebeat Arizona and the Arizona Mirror report that the investigation is ongoing, but the number affected has now ballooned to 200,000 voters registered, but without proof of citizenship on file.
The Arizona Supreme Court allowed affected voters to vote in November’s election, but now the legislature is considering an emergency measure, House Bill 2038, directing election officials to contact the voters and request citizenship documents. If not supplied within 35 days, the voter’s status would change to “not registered”, though voters could reactivate their registration by providing documentation right up to election day. After the 2026 general election, those voters would be dropped.
The Secretary of State’s office is reviewing the proposed legislation.
We have the text of the bill and Votebeat’s reporting linked at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
American Democracy Minute – (2024) State Data Mistake Puts Voting in Local & State Elections at Risk for 97,000 Arizonans
Votebeat Arizona/Arizona Mirror – Arizona officials struggle to straighten out voter rolls after proof-of-citizenship mixup
Votebeat Arizona/Arizona Mirror – Arizona voters caught up in state’s citizenship-proof error could see their registrations canceled
Arizona House of Representatives – HB 2038 – Voter registrants; satisfactory proof of citizenship; delayed repeal
Groups Taking Action:
All Voting is Local Action – Arizona, League of Women Voters AZ
Register or Check Your Voter Registration:
U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State
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#Democracy #DemocracyNews #ArizonaNews #ProofofCitizenship #VoterRegistration