During his research, Gillette discovered that Mohave County had 4,000 ineligible registrants, nearly one-third of whom did not know they were registered to vote in Arizona.

Gillette mentioned a man who was registered to vote in Arizona, but whose primary residence was Nevada. He had purchased two restaurants and a small rental home. He was registered to vote in Arizona when he purchased the vehicle he uses as a food truck, and has been receiving voter registration cards in the mail ever since. He doesn't vote in Arizona, he just throws away his card.

“He is not eligible to be on the voter rolls, but the recorder has to wait two cycles to remove him,” Gillette said. “But he has to send him a voter registration card to throw in the trash.”

Another example he found was a couple who lived in California but were registered to vote in Arizona. After speaking with them, Gillette discovered they had a daughter who lived in Kingman and had a car registered in Arizona. Through her registration, her parents were registered to vote in Arizona. The couple was sent a mail-in ballot and tried to throw it away.

“They threw away their ballots, they threw away their voter registrations,” Gillette said.

While these people are doing the right thing by not voting in Arizona, Gillette found another couple voting in both California and Arizona.

They had purchased vacant land in Kingman and had a boat registered in Arizona, but they had never actually lived in the state. Through boat registration, they were registered to vote in Arizona.

“They've never lived here,” Gillette said. “They did this purely for tax purposes.”

But they told Gillette they were voting in both California and Arizona, which is a federal crime.

“They voted and they continue to vote,” Gillette said.

Because of these findings, Gillette proposed HB 2404 and 2405 to prohibit county recorders from moving fraudulent registrants to inactive status and from mailing voter registration cards to ineligible registrants. Admitted.

According to the bill, HB 2405 would allow voters to register if the county recorder receives information that “provides reasonable cause to believe that a person has fraudulently registered to vote or that the person's registration information is incorrect.” It allows registrants to change their status from active to inactive.

Gillette said about half of county recorders currently suspend voter registrations if they suspect fraud, which is actually a federal crime.

“Under the federal Voting Rights Act, voting cannot be stopped without due process,” Gillette said. “Many recorders will suspend their registration immediately, which means you are stripping someone of their registration without due process.”

But there is no law that tells the county recorder what to do if a registration is suspected to be fraudulent.

Gillette said “reasonable cause” could include conflicting information such as address or name or signatures that don't match. At this point, the county recorder changes the voting status to inactive and triggers a mailing to that individual.

The individual will be notified of the change in status, provided with the reason, and asked to confirm the information in question. If you do not receive a response after sending two emails, your registration will be suspended.

In addition, the Registrar will stop sending out voter registration cards and mail-in ballots. However, while inactive and under investigation, individuals can still go to a polling place and vote.

“This bill is about the office of the Recorder and his ability to comply with the law,” Gillette said.

HB 2405 was heard at the Feb. 7 meeting of the House City Council Elections Committee and received pushback from several people.

Aguilar said he believes most county recorders are already doing this and doesn't think it needs to be a bill.

Additionally, Gillette was told that Democrats would not pass any more voting bills.

However, the bill was recommended for passage by a committee vote of 5-4, with Representatives Aguilar, Hernandez, Telehi, and Viegas voting against it. The bill also passed third reading in the House of Commons by a vote of 31-28.

HB 2404 would allow county recorders to mail voter registration cards out of state unless the person is in active military service out of state or a resident of a state not served by the U.S. Postal Service in Arizona. It is prohibited to do so.

The bill passed in a House committee, a House committee, and a Senate committee.

“Instead of sending voter registration cards out of state, I would like county recorders to send postcards out of state letting people know that they are on the voter rolls and that something needs to be done,” Gillette said. ” he said.

Gillette also pointed out that it costs $4 to send a voter registration card out of state, but it costs only $0.17 to send a postcard out of state, which saves money.

Rep. Aguilar raised several concerns during the Feb. 20 House plenary session about how the bill would affect snowbirds and college students. Gillette responded that the bill does not apply to those people.

“It doesn't apply to students, it doesn't apply to the military, it doesn't apply to legal absentee voters,” Gillette said.

Gillette said the purpose of the bill is to give county recorders the tools they need to organize voter rolls.

“This gives recorders another tool to organize voter rolls,” Gillette said.

The bill passed 5-3 at the City Oversight Elections Committee meeting on January 31st and 5-2 at the Senate Elections Committee meeting on March 4th, with Sens. Sudareshan and Hernandez opposed.