Arizona Democratic leaders, on a secret call, were concerned about a shocking discovery that, if made public, would accuse them of rigging the upcoming elections and call into question the results of the last two.
“When this becomes public, every conspiracy theorist in the world will re-litigate the last three elections, at least in Arizona,” Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs said on the call. , whose recording was obtained by Washington Post.
As they played with planned scenarios for how to respond, it became clear that about 100,000 Republican voters would be affected, to the benefit of Democrats.
“If we do what you say, we’re talking about disenfranchising probably tens of thousands of Republican voters,” said Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.
State leaders made the crisis call after learning that tens of thousands of residents had been registered to vote for decades, even though there was no record of them having provided proof of citizenship, which is required by Arizona law.
“When this becomes public, every conspiracy theorist in the world will re-litigate the last three elections, at least in Arizona,” said Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
The revelation could have resulted in thousands of voters being kicked off the ballot, multiple lawsuits over the issue and many questions about the legitimacy of the results in Arizona, a key state that could decide the winner of November’s presidential election.
It turns out to be a problem that hasn’t been addressed for 20 years.
In 2004, Arizona passed a law requiring voters to present proof of citizenship to vote. But about 10 years later, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a federal law that prevented the state from requiring proof of citizenship to vote for president and other federal officials.
To comply with the new federal ruling, Arizona adopted a dual registration system.
Those who provided proof of citizenship receive complete ballots that include local, state and federal elections. Those who did not receive ballots only with races for federal offices.
But a discovery this month revealed that tens of thousands of voters had been marked as eligible to receive completed ballots even though there was no record of them having provided citizenship documents.
And that led to Democrats’ dilemma: Changing the voting status of these people risked disenfranchising legitimate voters six weeks before the election. Allowing them to vote as they had in the past could violate the law.
State leaders were initially concerned that the issue would affect about 148,000 voters.
But the final count ended up being about 98,000, most of whom were Republicans and almost all of whom appeared to be citizens.
Hobbs argued that one way to deal with the politically explosive situation was to give these voters only federal election ballots.
But Mayes, the attorney general, and Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes argued that they could not disenfranchise so many voters so close to the election.
Fontes also noted that federal law prohibits states from making wholesale changes to their voter registration lists less than 90 days before an election.
Mayes noted that trying to introduce proper proof of citizenship into the system would be a logistical nightmare.
“Think of all the 82-year-olds in wheelchairs who won’t be able to get to the polls and certainly won’t be able to find their damn driver’s licenses.” or birth certificates on time,” he said.
“If we do what you say, we’ll be talking about disenfranchising probably tens of thousands of Republican voters,” he said.
In the 2020 race, Arizona was ground zero for conspiracy theories: Above, a hand recount in Maricopa County looked for evidence of Chinese election interference by searching for bamboo on paper ballots.
In addition to the presidential race, Arizona voters will also decide on a constitutional amendment to guarantee a woman’s right to abortion and decide which party controls the state legislator.
Mayes, the attorney general, was concerned that his Democratic trio would be accused of disenfranchising Republicans to gain an advantage in those races.
“We can’t do that,” he said.
Fontes, the secretary of state, summed it up: “They’re going to beat us up no matter what the hell we do, no matter what the hell we say.”
And the biggest problem was faith in the system.
“It’s going to validate all of their theories about illegal voting in our elections, even though we all know that’s not true,” Hobbs, the governor, worried about the call, according to Washington Post.
Mayes was concerned about the outcome if voters were removed from the ballot: ‘The reality is that if we let this happen, these entire elections will be questionable. “They are going to call new elections.”
Hobbs responded: “They will also call new elections for 2020 and 22.”
The leaders came up with a solution: a friendly lawsuit to give them legal coverage.
The state announced that computer problems at the department of motor vehicles caused the problem, which had since been fixed.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, sued Fontes. The state Supreme Court ruled that voters’ eligibility to cast full ballots must be maintained.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (left) and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (right), both Democrats, were on the call with Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Contractors working for Cyber Ninjas examine and count 2020 general election ballots in Arizona
But details of the call reveal how concerned state leaders are about the Nov. 5 election and the reaction to any outcome.
Republicans are already laying the groundwork to file lawsuits in several battleground states should Donald Trump lose, including Arizona.
Arizona was ground zero for conspiracy theories and recounts in the 2020 race, where Trump falsely claimed the election had been stolen from him.
Several counties conducted hand count audits and found no evidence of voter fraud. An investigation into Maricopa County ballots, which cost millions of dollars, found no evidence of Chinese ballots with paper containing bamboo.
At the time, Hobbs was secretary of state and faced death threats while overseeing the process. Fontes was the recorder of Maricopa County.
And several of Trump’s top allies face charges in the state for their alleged actions in Arizona after the election. Mayes leads that charge.
