The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that almost 98,000 people whose citizenship papers have not been confirmed are allowed to vote in state and local races.
The ruling was handed down on Friday, according to the Associated Press (AP). The outlet noted that the decision came “after officials uncovered a database error that, for two decades, mistakenly designated the voters as having access to the full ballot.”
The report also said those individuals were already entitled to vote in federal races regardless of the court’s decision.
The database error highlighted the problem with those voters’ citizenship statuses, Fox News reported on Friday. The outlet said it affected people “who obtained their driver’s licenses before October 1996 and subsequently received duplicates before registering to vote after 2004.”
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer (R) and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) did not see eye to eye on what status those particular voters should have, the AP article explained.
Richer wanted to find an answer to the question, so he filed a special action to Arizona’s Supreme Court on Tuesday.
“It is my position that these registrants have not satisfied Arizona’s documented proof of citizenship law, and, therefore, can only vote a ‘FED ONLY’ ballot,” Richer stated.
According to the AP report, the Republican-leaning court sided with Fontes:
It said county officials lack the authority to change the voters’ statuses because those voters registered long ago and had attested under the penalty of law that they are citizens. The justices also said the voters were not at fault for the database error and also mentioned the little time that’s left before the Nov. 5 general election.
AP noted that Richer and Fontes agreed with the decision.
It is important to note that 24 attorneys general in August were fighting for Arizona to gain permission to require voters to be U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections, Breitbart News reported.
In addition, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) does not believe there is an underlying problem of illegal immigrants voting, the outlet reported on September 4.
“There is no evidence that undocumented migrants vote. This is a solution looking for a problem,” he said.
However, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) explained during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily that it is a problem, as “our own federal government [is] registering these people automatically — through Medicaid, through forced DMV registration — under federal law.”
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