PHOENIX — Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap is pushing back against Attorney General Kris Mayes’ lawsuit seeking to restore full-ballot voting rights for voters his office flagged as possible noncitizens, calling it “partisan political theater” in a statement released Thursday.
Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes sued this week, saying the voters are U.S. citizens who were wrongly marked as not eligible. Heap’s statement puts the number named in the suit at 24.
Heap said the voters were flagged in February after the state Motor Vehicle Division database identified them as noncitizens and federal SAVE records could not confirm their citizenship. Rather than cancel their registrations, his office placed them in a pending status and mailed several notices asking for proof of citizenship, he said.
County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced Sept. 23 that her office had verified the citizenship of 52 people, including those in the lawsuit. Heap said neither Mitchell’s office nor Mayes has given him the documentation that Arizona law requires him to keep in each voter’s record.
“A press conference is not proof of citizenship. Neither is a lawsuit,” Heap said, adding that his office will restore the voters “immediately” once the documents arrive. The lawsuit argues the voters are U.S. citizens entitled to full ballots in the Nov. 3 election.
Sources: Maricopa County Recorder’s Office news release, Arizona Mirror. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Mrs. Gemstone from USA / CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
