Maricopa County recorder asks prosecutors to investigate 207 alleged noncitizen voters

“Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Arizona’s free newsletter here. Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap has formally referred potential noncitizen voters identified by an error-prone federal database to local prosecutors for further investigation ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said in a statement that Heap referred a total of 207 individuals for review — significantly more than the 137 voters Heap had previously announced he suspected were noncitizens. It said those referrals came in two batches — 137 voters were referred last week, and another 70 people were added on Monday. Judy Keane, a spokeswoman for Heap, did not respond to a question about why he referred an additional 70 voters. Prosecutors added that the probe was in “very early stages.” “In order to protect the integrity of the investigation, we will not comment further,” their statement read. “When more information is available for release, we will make that public.” The move comes more than a month after Heap’s office announced it was referring the 137 potential noncitizen voters to both the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. It’s unclear why Heap waited until last week to refer the cases; his office has not responded to multiple requests for comment on its handling of the alleged noncitizen voters in recent weeks. As of Monday, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office said it had yet to receive any referrals from Heap. Heap, a Republican who has expressed skepticism about the integrity of past elections, identified the 137 potential noncitizen voters while attempting to confirm the citizenship status of 61,681 voters impacted by a longstanding state record-keeping error . Of those 137, Heap’s office said 60 had previously cast ballots. But experts have long warned that the database that the office used to identify the voters — called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE — is unreliable. Maintained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, it was revamped and expanded last year to be used as a mass voter verification tool. However, it has produced false positives in several states, including Texas , raising questions about whether the number of noncitizens Heap announced could be inflated. Heap has also said that he intends to change the registration status of the voters. He wrote in a March 11 letter to Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, that he will move the voters to “not eligible status” pending receipt of documents proving their citizenship. But he appears to be using a process outlined in the state’s election rulebook that applies to new registrants suspected of being noncitizens, rather than following requirements in a state law that lays out how to notify and remove potential noncitizens who are already on the voter rolls. Several election experts and lawyers said his use of that process is questionable and may not meet legal requirements for notifying voters. Sasha Hupka is a reporter for Votebeat based in Arizona. Contact Sasha at shupka@votebeat.org .

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