The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office erroneously mailed 83,000 voters a letter warning they could be moved to the inactive voter list.
The affected voters account for about 3% of the county’s voting population.
They were supposed to receive a letter informing them that due to a state error, they will be asked to provide proof of citizenship. But instead, they were told that unless they responded to the recorder, they’d be categorized as inactive voters.
Votebeat journalist Jen Fifield first reported on the issue on Thursday afternoon, but the Recorder’s Office didn’t put out a response until after 5 p.m. Friday.
The Recorder’s Office attributed the mistake to a third-party vendor and said no voter records have been affected. The office encouraged voters who have any questions to reach out.
“This error was not caused by internal mistakes at the MCRO. The vendor has taken full responsibility for the mistake, and has already begun mailing out the corrected correspondence to the affected voters at their own expense, so there will be no additional cost to the taxpayers,” the recorder’s statement said.
Members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors seemed frustrated by both the error and the initial lack of response from Recorder Justin Heap.
“I hope this doesn't turn out to be a situation where Justin Heap knew about this for days but decided to go into bunker mode and then quietly releases a press release after Friday 5 p.m. in which he blames some random vendor instead of taking responsibility quickly and proactively,” Republican Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chair Thomas Galvin posted on Friday afternoon.
“Oh would you look at that, 5:04 p.m. And naturally, no apology from Justin Heap to the many anxious voters,” Galvin said in a follow-up post later in the day.
“Panicked constituents are contacting my office because Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap erroneously sent them (and 83,000 other people) a letter saying they were going to be reclassified to an inactive voter,” Republican Supervisor Debbie Lesko posted on social media — which fellow Republican Supervisor Kate Brophy McGee reposted.
“My office has been inundated with phone calls regarding this election debacle by the recorder. Voters deserve better,” Democratic Supervisor Steve Gallardo posted.
The correspondence that the Recorder’s Office intended to send out is in regards to a recently discovered glitch in the Motor Vehicle Division, which affects an estimated 218,000 Arizona voters.
That flaw incorrectly shows some people showed documentary proof of citizenship when applying for a driver’s license. It affects some voters who got their license before Oct. 1, 1996, because that’s when the state began requiring documentary proof of residence to get a driver’s license.
The recorder’s message is part of an effort to ensure all voters are U.S. citizens.
