Phoenix – The Maricopa County Recorder office has pledged to fix any major defects.
Tens of thousands of voters have received strange letters via email asking if they moved when they weren’t. The letter then asked them to correct the mistake.
What we know:
Approximately 83,000 of these letters have been sent to the county recorder letterhead, and this week they started pushing their mailboxes.
Arizona said they received information that these people had obtained driver’s licenses or identification from another state and did not live at an address that matches their voter registration file. I also needed a proof of my current address, such as a birth certificate and a passport.
What they are saying:
All of these letters were sent to people who were not moving or had no other IDs, like this man from Fountain Hills.
“You need to immediately acknowledge what happened. You need to get ahead of the problem, what you’re doing to take care of it. That’s how you have the problem.”
On June 27, the agency acknowledged it was an error and denounced the third-party vendor.
“I spinned quite a bit,” said one man who didn’t want to be identified.
He was angry after receiving a letter from the county and asked if he had moved.
“To get my gallbladder is that I’m a resident of Arizona since 1972,” he said. “I joined the Arizona National Guard in 1981. I served my country around the world for 20 years. I’ve returned with so many injuries. And do I have to prove my citizenship because of your troubles?”
Backstory:
The letter said Arizona received information that these people had obtained driver’s licenses or identification from another state and did not live at an address that matches the voter registration file. They then requested proof of birth certificates and passports to prove their current address.
“They don’t need to do anything right now. Please ignore the letter,” said Janine Petty, Voter Registration Director.
The county quickly admitted the mistake and denounced third-party vendor errors, but it hasn’t progressed much.
“So voters should ignore the letter they receive and wait for the revised letter,” Petty said.
What’s next:
The new revised letter is expected to arrive within the next week. But for this guy, the damage has already been done.
“If there was a fire and all the records were burning, I’d got it, but it’s not my job as a taxpayer to fix the bureaucratic glitches,” he said.
The recorder’s office will not say what the new letter says, or if the original letter targets a particular group, region, or party affiliation. Just make sure the new letter is offered free of charge to taxpayers.
Maricopa County Recorder’s Office Statement
“Today, Maricopa County Recorder’s Office (MCRO) issued the following statement regarding voter communications misrepresented by a third-party vendor in Maricopa County:
Yesterday, MCRO recognized voter communications that were incorrectly sent by a third-party vendor in Maricopa County. Due to this error, voter records were not affected. This error was not caused by an internal error in the MCRO. There is no additional cost to taxpayers as vendors are fully liable for mistakes and are beginning to mail corrected communications to already affected voters at their own expense.
The approved communication was for voters who needed to provide evidence of citizenship (DPOC) related to MVD glitch. 90 days for DPOC return will begin on the date when notification is sent. Due to a vendor error, the 90-day start surgery date is the date when the corrected communication is sent to each voter.
If you have any questions from voters, please contact our office at 602-506-1511 or voterinfo@maricopa.gov. ”
