GLENDALE — A Glendale voter who changed her name when she got married says other women need to be aware of the extra burden they may face when providing proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote.
Brenda Shearer is one of the 83,000 Maricopa County voters who must provide proof of citizenship after an Arizona Motor Vehicle Division data error incorrectly marked her as having done so, letting her cast a full ballot for decades.
“How many people don't have this or that and have to go scurrying around to get copies of this, copies of that?” she said.
The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office sent her a letter last month instructing her to send in proof of citizenship, such as a copy of her passport or birth certificate. But Shearer quickly realized she had a problem: The last name on her birth certificate is her maiden name, not her married name.
“I can't be the only one asking that question,” she said.
Shearer was divorced in 1987 but kept her married name, adding a new wrinkle.
“If it was nothing more than just the birth certificate and their signed form, easy-peasy,” she said.
She called the Recorder’s Office and asked for guidance, she told ABC15.
“I brought up a can of worms by asking, ‘Well, wait a minute, my birth name's totally different. I've been divorced for 38 years. What do I do?’” she said.
The call center instructed her to send in a copy of her divorce papers, but Shearer said she didn’t feel comfortable sending them in the mail.
“If I can get somebody to drive me down there, I prefer in person,” she said. “I'm not going to mail all that stuff, you know.”
Women who have changed their name after marriage can also provide a copy of their marriage certificate. People without that document can order another from the county in which they were wed.
The Recorder’s Office also told ABC15 the state’s Election Procedures Manual requires them to accept a birth certificate if the first name, middle name, place of birth, date of birth and parents’ name on the registration form matches.
Arizona has required proof of citizenship to register to vote since Proposition 200 became law in 2004. Voters who do not provide such proof can still vote in federal elections after swearing they are citizens, like voters in other states do.
The Recorder’s Office told ABC15 that voters affected by the data error who do not provide proof of citizenship within 90 days of getting the letter will be moved to the federal-only rolls.
However, those voters can get the full state ballot if they provide proof of citizenship before 7 p.m. on Election Day, the office said.
County election officials verify citizenship with the state MVD. In September 2024, just weeks before Election Day, election officials discovered a data coding error in Arizona’s driver’s license database that allowed at least one non-citizen to register to vote.
More than 200,000 voters statewide were hit by the error, including the 83,000 like Shearer in Maricopa County.
The Recorder's Office at first sent the wrong letter to those voters, incorrectly telling them they had moved out of state and their registration would be canceled unless they told the office otherwise.
Shearer said she worries women affected by the error who have changed their last name after marriage may not know that they could need extra documentation.
“Hopefully this gets out,” she said. “They hear this is it. It is what it is.”
