Heap: Nearly 150,000 voter notices were not a mistake

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(The Center Square) - That voter registration notice in the mail is no mistake, according to the Maricopa County Recorder's Office.

The office sent almost 150,000 residents a notice asking whether their voter registration address matches the address on file with the Arizona Department of Transportation. Of the notices, Recorder Justin Heap said 142,166 notices were dated July 31 and Aug. 1, and the other 7,463 were dated Aug. 14 and 15.

These notices “were not sent in error, nor were they the result of a mistake by” his office, Heap told The Center Square in an email.

Heap, whose county is Arizona's most populous and is home to Phoenix, explained state law mandates these notices as part of voter registration list maintenance.

“ARS 16-165(G) requires the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office to compare the statewide voter registration database, AVID, with the driver's license database maintained by the Arizona Department of Transportation each month,” Heap said. “The secretary of state’s office then provides the counties with the results of that comparison."

Heap noted when the secretary of state finds a difference “between a voter’s address in AVID and the address on file with [the motor vehicle department], the county must send the voter a notice.”  

According to Heap, his office is restricted from viewing the Motor Vehicle Division's records and systems. The division, which handles matters such as driver licenses and vehicle registration, is part of the state’s Department of Transportation.

A county recorder does not independently decide if there is a discrepancy between a voter’s address and what is on file, Heap said.

Heap said he and other county recorders, in the past, raised issues with the secretary of state’s office about its “address-comparison process and requested enhancements to AVID to improve the accuracy of these comparisons and avoid confusion.” 

“Those requested enhancements have not been made,” Heap explained.

He added the notices about voter registration does not affect or cancel voter registration.

“It simply advises the voter of the information provided to us so they can verify it and update their registration if necessary,” Heap said, adding that if the voter’s information is correct, the person does not have to respond.

“Their voter registration remains active, and any ballot requests — including Active Early Voting List ballots — will be fulfilled as normal,” he explained.

In the instance a notice can’t be delivered to an address, Heap said that is when the “list-maintenance process [is] initiated, which includes an additional notification to the voter seeking a response.”

“This process is necessary to ensure ballots are not mailed to voters who no longer reside at an address,” he said.

Heap encouraged residents to check their registration status before voting to make sure their residential and mailing addresses are up to date.

The last day for residents to register to vote is Oct. 5, Heap noted, adding that “early voting and the mailing of early ballots” start Oct. 7.

Maricopa County Supervisor Mark Stewart previously told The Center Square that the county expects about a 65% turnout for the Nov. 3 general election.