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FACT BRIEF

Were some Arizona voters incorrectly sent mail-in ballots with only federal elections on them?

By Austin Tannenbaum
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YES

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Arizona, said Tuesday that a voter registration error caused as many as 6,000 Arizonans to be misclassified as federal-only voters. The next day, her office clarified that 1,000 of the affected voters were sent a ballot without local races, although it has yet to determine how many of these were provided incorrectly.

In Arizona, those without citizenship documentation on file are ineligible to vote in state elections and are registered as “federal only” voters. This designation came after a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Arizona cannot require documentary proof of citizenship for people to vote in national elections.

Hobbs said the error — a problem with the link between voter registration and driver’s license databases — has since been corrected and that anyone affected will receive the correct ballot shortly.

See a full discussion of this at Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
AP News Registration error affects up to 6,000 Arizona voters
Arizona News 6,000 Arizona voters received a federal race-only ballot, Secretary of State says
Arizona Mirror Up to 1,000 Arizona voters were mistakenly sent ballots with only federal races. Here’s why and what’s next.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is the state’s only independent, nonpartisan and collaborative nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting. AZCIR's mission is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable by exposing injustice and systemic inequities through investigative journalism.
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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.