Suddenly 218,000 is the new 98,000.
That’s now the number of longtime Arizona voters who apparently haven’t proved their U.S. citizenship.
Maybe they did. Maybe they didn’t.
Are there more? Who knows?
How could such a thing happen?
Nobody seems to be able to explain it.
It is, we are told, a “data coding oversight”.
New discovery just days before early voting begins
One that has been overlooked for 20 years?
And now has been found on the eve of a major election?
It’s a heck of a way to run a state.
The people impacted are voters who got their driver’s licenses before 1996, before documented proof of citizenship was required to vote in state and local elections.
As the story goes, they then later registered to vote, once proof was required, but nobody seems to know whether they provided it or simply attested to their citizenship, as required to vote in federal elections and in every other state.
Credit Maricopa County Recorder’s Office again
On Sept. 19, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said 98,000 voters were impacted.