Maricopa County mistakenly denied a vote from an Arizona veteran in the November election, disenfranchising him.

watched by about 500,000 people first tweet Abe Hamade is still running for office after narrowly losing his candidacy for attorney general last year. Over 1,000 people have shared. Hamade, Republican, repetition Referenced A poll of veterans said the situation was “exactly why I’m fighting.”

But there’s more to the story than the veteran’s own confusion, and it seems genuine. Not registered to vote In fact, he will be in Maricopa County in 2022. updated his voter registration in Navajo County in 2021 given a receipt It looked the same back then Notified by Navajo County He was registered there before the 2022 election, according to documents obtained by Votebeat.

So the process appears to be working fine. But veteran stories show that making sure you’re registering your voters correctly can still confuse voters.

Votebeat identifies the veteran only by his first name Howard because he did not respond to requests for an interview.

In this particular example, confusion may have arisen due to recent changes in the way states update voter registration status.

To comply with federal law, under the 2020 Settlement Agreement, Arizona agreed to automatically prompt residents to renew their voter registration when they update their address or driver’s license. . If voters do not wish to renew their registration, they must actively opt out.

Hamade’s campaign claims the opt-out system is not transparent enough and disenfranchises voters like Howard. Proving is important to Hamade. Hamade is trying to convince the trial court to reconsider his election loss to Attorney General Chris Mays. His lawsuit is pending in Mojave County.

There is no reliable data to support Hamade’s claims. According to a Votebeat review of county data provided to the federal government, Arizona County does not consistently track the number of registered Arizona voters whose ballots have been denied because they tried to vote for the wrong county.

What happened to the veteran vote?

Here’s what happened with the noted veteran Hamade, according to records provided to Votebeat by Maricopa County, Navajo County, and the Automotive Department.

Maricopa County records show Howard registered to vote in Maricopa County in January 2017 and voted in 2018 and 2020.

On September 9, 2021, he went to the Navajo County MVD office to get a new ID card. With the help of an MVD employee, he filled out a form and listed his address on the show’s row in Navajo County. According to a copy of the form, the “yes” box was ticked on the question asking if he wanted to register to vote or update an existing voter registration, and his signature is at the bottom, according to a copy of the form. His files also show that he was given a “voter registration application receipt” indicating that he was newly registered in Navajo County.

This process automatically sent a new voter registration form to Navajo County, which prompted them to add him to their voter rolls.

Maricopa County subsequently received notice that he was registered elsewhere in the state and canceled the registration on September 10, 2021, according to county records. State law requires this, and if a county registrar receives reliable information that a person has registered to vote in another county, they will verify the registration in the other county before verifying the previous registration. It says it has to be canceled.

In May 2022, prior to the primary, Howard received notice from Navajo County that he was registered to vote at an address in Show Low. This his 90-day notice is required under state law and will help encourage people to renew their resident registrations before the election, if necessary. Howard responded and told Navajo County to cancel voter registration. According to county records, he ticked a box indicating he had left Navajo County. However, according to records, he did not re-enroll with Maricopa.

With the 2022 primary approaching, he was not registered to vote in either county.

Could there be unintended consequences for the 2020 financial results?

One of Hamade’s lawyers, Jen Wright, who served as Assistant Attorney General under former Attorney General Mark Brnovic, argues the system is not transparent enough.

Service Arizona, the state’s electronic system for renewing your license, ID, or home address, automatically checks a box asking you if you want to renew your voter registration to comply with federal law. Voters who do not want it should uncheck the box.

This system allows states to Settled a lawsuit with the League of Women Voters and other voting rights groups.

The National Voting Rights Act requires states to use the driver license and change of address processes to update voter registration at the same time. All changes must be forwarded to the electoral authorities.”Unless the registrant affirmatively requests otherwise by opting out on the formaccording to federal law. The group sued former Secretary of State Michele Reagan in 2018, alleging that the state failed to offer this voter registration renewal option when voters updated their addresses. According to the league, Reagan staff testified that as many as 384,000 residents were likely registered to vote at the wrong address due to the violation.

The Voting Rights Group thought the settlement had won. However, Wright claims the system introduced has caused widespread confusion among voters, and claims she is still collecting evidence to support it. I believe there should be an on-screen warning and a prompt to the user so that the is more clear.

State officials believe there are many warnings. After that first checkbox, Service Arizona’s next page asks for more voter registration details.

Arizona Department of Transportation spokesman Bill LaMorrow said, “The question is repeated in bold at the top of the pop-up and requires two more voter registration questions, so you know you’re registering to vote.” It’s always clear,” he said.

If the person makes this change in person, they will be given a printed receipt showing the change, Lamoreaux says.

In terms of potential improvements, Howard, a veteran of videos in which Hamade appeared, could have benefited from receiving notice from Maricopa County when he canceled voter registration.

State law allows for cancellation of registration in certain circumstances where a voter did not initiate a change, such as when a voter was removed from the roll because the state received notice that the voter had died or been convicted of a felony. only requires the county to notify voters. .

“This was a request by voters to be added to the Navajo County register and removed from the Maricopa County voter register,” said Sierra Ciaramella, spokesperson for the Registrar’s Office. “We believe the voter move was intentional and there was no reason to believe otherwise.”

The county encourages voters to use the online system beballotready.vote to check their voter registration status, especially prior to the election. Elsewhere in the state, voters can use my.arizona.vote.

Hamade’s campaign, meanwhile, plans to use affidavits from voters similar to Howard’s to prove to the courts that voters have been disenfranchised.

Wright claims Hamade’s campaign has a list of hundreds of potential cases in Maricopa County alone.

“Votebeat is a non-profit news organization covering local election integrity and voter access. Sign up for newsletter here”