Judge orders officials to release names of 98,000 Arizona voters affected by error

PHOENIX (AZ Family) — A Valley judge ordered Thursday that the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office must turn over the details regarding the almost 98,000 voters whose citizenship documents have not been confirmed due to an MVD registration error.

The Arizona Foundation for Strong Communities demanded the publication of the names of the voters and Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney decided that they must be released.

“Despite the political underpinnings, this is simply a public records case,” Blaney said in the ruling.

The Strong Communities Foundation, which operates under EZAZ.orgrequested public records on Sept. 17.

The nonprofit says it helps identify ineligible voters through routine surveys and refers them to the registration office for help voting.

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, contested the request, arguing that releasing the information would expose voters to “harassment and violence.”

Its expert witness, Professor Robert Pape, testified during an evidentiary hearing on Monday that there could be violence against voters who could be misidentified as “illegal”, especially if the information was spread online.

Blaney criticized Pape’s testimony, saying he provided no evidence of any specific threats of violence or harassment against EZAZ.org.

The judge also said Pape did not know that the voter registration database was a public record that uniquely identifies each federal voter. Publishing information online is also illegal.

EZAZ.org agreed not to share the list with third parties other than the 15 county recorders, Arizona Senate President Warren PetersonThe President of the Chamber Ben Thomasand members of the Senate Elections Committee.

Fontes alleged that if certain members of the Arizona Legislature obtained the list, they would give it to third parties, who would then harass and be violent with constituents, “resulting in possible death or injury.”

Blaney said Fontes offered no evidence that this would happen.

Fontes was also found to have given inconsistent testimony about the number of voters affected by the MVD error. At first he said his office did not have a list of the original 98,000, then changed his testimony after lunch.

Then he said the secretary of state’s office did not they have the full list of all 218,000 affected by the bug.

Fontes has until noon Monday to turn in the nearly 98,000 voter names EZAZ.org. However, the website cannot share information until after Tuesday’s general election.

In September, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that all those voters could vote outright in state and local races during Tuesday’s election.

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