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

PHOENIX — The Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed Monday a decision of a lower court it 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 error.

The court rejected an appeal by Foreign Minister Adrian Fontes’ office that sought to overturn the lower court’s ruling or at least suspend it. One group had sued in an attempt to verify whether those on the list are actually eligible to cast a full ballot.

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

Fontes expressed his disappointment with the latest decision during a press conference and promised that officials will keep an eye out for any cases of voter intimidation. While it was his intent to ensure that voter information remains 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 allowed the plaintiff to distribute the list to county recorders, the state Senate president, the Speaker of the House and members of both chambers’ election committees, which the plaintiff said it intended to share. Senate President Warren Petersen submitted on the social platform X that he received the list.

Citing an earlier ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court, Fontes said “every single one of those voters is eligible to vote and eligible to vote in every single election.”

Arizona is unique among states in requiring voters to prove their citizenship to enter local and statewide races. Those who have not, but have sworn to it under penalty of perjury, are allowed to do so participate only in federal elections.

The misclassification of voters from federal-only to full-ballot voters was blamed on an error in state databases involving driver’s licenses and the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division.

Several close races in the battleground state are expected to be decided by razor-thin margins. While the party’s roughly 218,000 potentially affected voters won’t affect the outcome of federal contests, they could affect close state and local races.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney ruled last week that the court received no credible evidence that the information would be misused or incite violence or harassment against the voters whose citizenship has not been verified.

Still, Fontes reiterated his concerns Monday, using 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 voters are getting in some counties.