25 Arizona voters wrongly flagged as noncitizens regain access before midterms

In the days leading up to the November 3 midterm elections, 25 Arizona voters who were wrongly identified as possible noncitizens have regained their voting rights. This restoration came about after a legal dispute between Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, which was settled through court-ordered mediation on Friday.

The lawsuit, which began following the identification of the 25 individuals by Heap's office, involved a review of Arizona's voter registrations using a federal database called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE). The database had previously erroneously flagged American citizens as possible noncitizens. Investigations confirmed that the 25 affected individuals were indeed US citizens, but their voter access was not immediately restored due to a lack of documentary evidence.

The dispute was settled when Mayes provided the citizenship information that Heap's office requested. Of the 25 people involved, 24 had their active voter status restored following mediation, while the remaining individual had already regained voting access independently. Heap's office also issued early ballots to 18 affected voters enrolled in the county's Active Early Voting List.

The dispute highlighted the potential inaccuracies in the SAVE database and the strict requirements for reinstating voting access under Arizona law.