Breaking News Stories

Yes, a Maricopa County voter received two mail ballots. That’s not a sign of wrongdoing or fraud.

Local election officials debunked speculation that something sinister happened after an Arizona voter posted a photo showing she received two mail-in ballots from Maricopa County.

“Maricopa County is in great shape…I voted for the first time in a presidential election and received not one, but two mail-in ballots. Thank you.” @stephen_richer,” Posted by Aubrey Savera on X.

Sabella is the field representative for Turning Point Action, a conservative group founded by Charlie Kirk.

Richer, Maricopa County Recorder and Republican. I replied with X There's a reason Sabella received two ballots. And more importantly, he's the only one that counts.

“On the last day of voter registration (February 20), you changed your voter registration from your Chandler address to your new Tempe address,” Richer wrote. “Since early voting must take place on February 21st, your Chandler ballot was already set to be released, which it is. We will then process your voter registration changes. At that time, we shipped a new ballot to your Tempe address.

February 20th is Last day of registration Vote to vote in the March 19 primary election.

Richer said photos of Sabella's two ballots show she had two different addresses because the redacted address lines on both envelopes were not the same length. He said it was a clue.

Richer also wrote that one of the code numbers on the ballot ended with “01,” reflecting Sabella's old address, and the other ended with “02,” which was her new address.

“As soon as the '02' packet disappears, the '01' packet becomes invalid,” Richer wrote. “So even if you send it back, there will be no signature verification and it won't be opened. That's how you prevent double voting. So use a new address that ends in '02'. — That's the only way to prevent double voting. It works.”

Richer often debunks misinformation about voting and has faced death threats because of it. Brian Jerry Ogstad lives in Alabama. arrested On February 28, he was charged with sending threatening messages to Maricopa election officials in 2022, including “all of you will be executed for your crimes.”

Tammy Patrick, chief executive officer of programs at the National Association of Election Officials' Election Center and former Maricopa County elections official, said Sabella's post lacks understanding and important context.

“This is yet another example of standard operating procedures being taken out of context, misunderstood, and misrepresented to support a false narrative about the integrity of our elections and the integrity of our election officials.” That’s an example,” Patrick said.

The election office has introduced a system to prevent double mailing when voting.

JP Martin, a spokesperson for Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, told PolitiFact that it is not uncommon for voters who renew their registration near an election to receive two ballots, one each. It has a unique code that ensures only one copy is counted.

“Our voting system is designed with strong safeguards against double voting,” Martin said.

Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, is home to more than half of the state's voters. The vast majority of Arizona voters vote by mail, as they have for decades. That's why any misinformation about mail-in voting is especially harmful to democracy in battleground states.

Jenny Guzman, program director for Common Cause Arizona, said voters can do their part by updating their voter registration in a timely manner.

But nationwide, election officials are taking similar steps to prevent double voting.

Barbara Smith-Warner, executive director of the National Vote-at-Home Institute, a group that advocates for access to mail-in voting, said jurisdictions that send mail-in ballots are not eligible for voters who change their address just before their ballots are mailed. It said it was developing policies and systems to address the issue.

“Such voters have already received a ballot in the mail, and it is not uncommon for election officials to mail them a second ballot reflecting the race and election appropriate to their new residence.” Smith-Warner said.

Ballot return envelopes are encrypted and election management systems are programmed to alert election officials that a voter has been mailed two ballots. Election officials have systems in place to ensure that if a voter returns both ballots, only one will be counted.

Smith-Warner said voter registration management systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated and mistakes like this are becoming rare. But post-election audits typically review these cases to ensure proper procedures and state laws were followed, she said.

Many states are members of the Electronic Registration Information Center, a consortium that shares voter registration lists. The center will identify voters who have duplicate registrations within the same state and voters who have moved to another state. This helps prevent double voting.

We found anecdotal examples in the news of voters receiving two mail-in ballots due to an error.

In 2020, election officials in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania mistakenly sent multiple mail-in ballots to some residents ahead of the state's June primary election.of the county said A glitch in the state's computerized voter registration system caused duplicate labels on mail-in and absentee ballots to be accidentally printed.

“Even if a person receives multiple ballots, only the one returned ballot will be counted because the barcode on the label used for tracking is exactly the same,” the county said in a statement. Ta. “When a voted ballot is returned to the office, it will be scanned. If another ballot is returned from the same voter, it will appear as a duplicate vote when scanned and will be rejected by the system. Mark the paper as rejected. The ballot will be held but not sent to a warehouse for counting or opening.”

Of course, another way double voting can occur is when a voter casts a mail-in ballot in two states in the same election. But it's a crime. 4 voters in The VillagesA conservative retirement community in central Florida was arrested for voting multiple times in the 2020 election.

related: Ask PolitiFact: What steps are election officials taking to prevent fraud?

related: All fact-checked about Arizona

Share this post: