Almost 4.2 million Arizonans are registered to vote for the November general election as of the most recent statewide numbers reported just before the primary. Due to the normal functions of election administrators, it is not a record.
According to the data, Republicans maintain a registration advantage over Democrats, 1,434,838 to 1,287,179. The second largest registered group of voters in Arizona, however, are those who choose not to identify with a political party.
Unaffiliated voters are almost neck-and-neck with Republicans headed into November, with only about 30,000 fewer registered.
Registration totals since 2010 show how registrations have surged in the state after the 2016 election. A second similar surge in registrations occurred just before the 2020 election as well. The trend is not consistently up.
The August figures show over 200,000 registrations were removed from the “active” voter list.
One of the persistent myths surrounding the 2020 election was the inclusion of “ghost voters” in the count. These would be individuals that either died or moved away but remained registered and had an illegal ballot cast in their name.
No evidence has come forward of the existence of ghost voters and county recorders maintain a rigid list maintenance schedule geared towards keeping voting rolls as accurate as possible without disenfranchising anyone who would be legally allowed to vote.
Maricopa, along with other counties, use six different methods to clean their rolls. The most important of these is official election mail sent from their offices. This mail cannot be forwarded through the post office and any mail sent back to the counties as undeliverable begins the process of removal for that record.
They also employ the USPS national change of address (NCOA) database and Arizona is a member of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC); a consortium of 33 states that share voter registration and voting data.
Counties also receive reports from other government agencies. Lists are checked against deceased records from the health department.
The county court systems also send felony and jury summons records to be checked against. The final method used for list maintenance relies on voters to self-report whether they have moved.
What happens when a record is flagged for removal?
If the person is deceased, became a felon or self-reported as moved, the registration is canceled.
If official election mail is returned as undeliverable, the record is put into what is called “NVRA” named after the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. In these cases, records are first changed from active to inactive.
An inactive voter may still cast a ballot, and if they do they are automatically changed back to active status. If no ballot is cast in two election cycles, the record is canceled.
Arizona is one of the few states that require proof of citizenship to register to vote. According to Maricopa County, 99% of registered voters are verified as US Citizens using some form of proof of citizenship.
There are about 27,000 voters who, based on federal law, are still allowed to vote in federal races. These registrants sign an attestation that they are a US Citizen.
Federal only voters in Arizona are registered using the same form that most Americans use. They are still required to present ID at the polls.
