PHOENIX — A monthslong investigation into the citizenship of 60 Maricopa County voters found only eight had voted in past elections, County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said Monday, saying her office found no evidence of an effort to get non-citizens to vote.
The 60 voters were among 207 names Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap referred to prosecutors in March for review. The other 147 registered voters did not cast ballots.
“While we only found eight non-citizen voters in this investigation, one is too many,” Mitchell said.
She is calling for legislation to create records of who registers people to vote and to separate MVD data and voter data.
“Though our findings today would not change the outcome of any past election, every ineligible voter dilutes the vote of a citizen,” Mitchell said. “And it's crucial that we fix this going forward, so there are no doubts cast on the security and the results of our elections.”
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The 60 voters were affected by a decadeslong coding error at the Motor Vehicle Division that incorrectly flagged them as having provided proof of citizenship.
Heap said earlier this month that his office had used the federal SAVE database, MVD records and other searches to determine if the 207 voters he referred to Mitchell’s office were citizens.
“These were people that consistently we cannot document as citizens,” he said.
In a statement Monday, Heap called Mitchell’s findings a win, saying it’s an example of the process working as it should.
“This is exactly how the system is supposed to work: potential eligibility issues are identified, thoroughly reviewed and referred for investigation when necessary,” he said.
Heap said his office will continue “aggressively pursuing accurate voter rolls while ensuring that every eligible voter is protected.”
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes also called the investigation an example of how the system and its safeguards are working.
“I find it deeply disappointing that others have used this moment to spread the false narrative that our elections are not secure but, thankfully, they have once again failed to provide any proof to substantiate their claims,” he said.
Mitchell said she is planning to expand the scope of her investigation but did not detail how.
“We want to make sure that there are not other inaccurate records that are in existence that are between MVD and the recorder's offices,” she said.
Who are the voters?
The eight voters are all in the country legally, Mitchell said.
“Most have lived in the U.S. for decades,” she said. “One person has been here more than 72 years.”
Five were not registered with a political party, two were Republicans, and one was a Democrat. The voters did not all cast ballots in the same election, nor did they vote in every election.
Mitchell said she did not see evidence of a coordinated push to get non-citizens to vote, noting that the eight voters did not even vote in every election.
The general election in 2012 was the first in which one of the eight voted. That voter did not vote again for a decade, until the general election in 2022. Three voters only cast a ballot once: one in the 2018 general election, one in the general in 2020, and the third in the 2022 general.
Another voted in four elections: the 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024 general elections. Two voters cast ballots in two elections – the 2022 Republican primary and 2025 Glendale special election for one, and the 2024 general and 2025 Glendale election for the other. And another person voted three times: in the 2014 and 2020 general elections and the 2020 Republican primary.
Mitchell said the voters told her investigators they did not remember registering to vote or being asked to register.
One, a person in El Mirage, filled out a handwritten form in 2012 and was erroneously added to the voter roll even though the person marked “no” to the question asking if they were a citizen.
Mitchell said she has not yet decided whether or not to bring charges. Under state law, voting as a non-citizen is a felony.
How the non-citizen voters got registered
The other seven voters were registered after they renewed their driver’s licenses. They had obtained their first license before Arizona began requiring proof of citizenship in 1996.
When voters in 2004 passed a statewide proposition to require proof of citizenship to register to vote, Arizona driver’s licenses were accepted proof because drivers had to show documentation to get a license. But people who got licenses before 1996 were essentially grandfathered in when they renewed their license, because MVD’s system showed the renewal date instead of the original date of issuance.
About 218,000 voters – including 83,000 in Maricopa County – were affected by the systemic database issue that stretched back two decades.
The issues could have been identified and fixed years earlier, an ABC15 investigation found. A bipartisan audit ordered by Gov. Katie Hobbs confirmed that report.
Mitchell said it’s not clear if the seven voters were registered at the MVD in person or through a third-party vendor.
Of the 147 registered voters who have not cast a ballot, Mitchell said her team still needed to investigate about 20.
Legislative recommendations
Mitchell said the Legislature needs to make changes to prevent similar errors. She is recommending training for MVD workers and third-party vendors.
“It is possible that we will see more registered voters flagged in the future, and it will require a legislative fix to close the loophole that is allowing non-citizens to become registered,” she said.
Most of the voters told her investigators they did not remember registering to vote or being asked if they wanted to register, she said.
“When workers register someone to vote, they should be showing the person the completed form, including the questions and answers about citizenship, before anything is signed,” Mitchell said.
Early voting starts next week, but Mitchell said the timing of her findings was a coincidence.
“I'm not trying to make a political statement,” she said. “I'm fulfilling a promise that I've made in repeated press conferences where I've been asked about this, that as soon as I got through the 60, that I would report my findings."
The Attorney General’s Office is also investigating.
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