A leaked phone call between Arizona’s top Democratic officials has revealed their internal discussions surrounding a major error that validated the citizenship of nearly 100,000 voters.
The conversation, obtained by the Washington Post, involved Governor Katie Hobbs, Attorney General Kris Mayes, and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who were scrambling to develop a narrative before making the issue public.
Governor Hobbs expressed concern about the political fallout, saying, “It’s going to validate all of their theories about illegal voting in our elections.”
She worried that critics would use the error to push for new elections in both 2020 and 2022, referring to allegations that her gubernatorial win over Kari Lake was illegitimate.
Attorney General Kris Mayes admitted that the error could lead to challenges in multiple elections, stating, “All of these elections are challengeable.”
The error stemmed from a failure to verify voters’ citizenship, raising concerns about the integrity of the voting system.
Although the source of the leak is unclear, some speculate it may have been orchestrated to give the impression that the officials were committed to ensuring transparency and election integrity.
However, the call underscored the precarious position of the officials, all of whom won their 2022 elections amidst widespread technical failures in Maricopa County, where 60% of voting machines malfunctioned on Election Day.
Many believe that illegal or improper mail-in ballots were also counted during that election. As Secretary of State at the time, Hobbs oversaw the election process in both 2020 and 2022.
The leaked phone call also reveals that election officials were aware of the error more than a week before they informed the public.
Arizona GOP Chairwoman Gina Swoboda says that Secretary of State Fontes was notified as early as September 6, but the public was not made aware until September 17, when Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer announced the problem.
The issue stemmed from an error in the Arizona Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) system, which caused nearly 100,000 voter registrations to be validated without confirming the voters’ citizenship.
This error, however, was not new. A loophole dating back 20 years allowed individuals who received a driver’s license before 1996, when proof of citizenship was not required, to have their voter registration automatically validated.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer explained that if a driver obtained a license before 1996 and later requested a duplicate, the MVD system would update the license issuance date without requiring proof of citizenship.
This allowed non-citizens to remain on the voter rolls without proper verification.
During the 40-minute phone call, the Democratic officials discussed how to handle the situation, which Hobbs described as “an urgent, dire situation.”
Mayes and Fontes worried that the error would lead to accusations of election fraud, with Mayes noting that the officials would be “beat up no matter what the hell we do.”
One proposed solution was a “friendly lawsuit,” which was eventually filed by Richer.
The lawsuit called for the affected voters, primarily Republicans, to be registered as “Federal only” voters, meaning they could only vote in federal elections unless they provided documentary proof of citizenship.
Although the lawsuit was filed as an emergency, the state’s highest court ruled that the affected voters would still be allowed to vote on a full ballot.
1 Comment
Glitch? All these “glitches” seem to go one way only, the way if the left.