PHOENIX – Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap announced on Jan. 21 that he has given the approval to remove hundreds of thousands of people from the county’s voter registration list.
“I promised to make cleaning the voter rolls a Day One priority in this office, and we’re taking swift action to deliver on that promise,” Heap wrote.
Here’s what to know.
How many people were removed from the list?
By the numbers:
Per the statement Heap released, a total of 242,565 people were removed from the county’s voter registration list.
According to the official results from the 2024 election, there were 4,367,593 eligible voters in the state.
In Their Words:
“This is the first of many steps my office will be taking over the coming months and years to ensure that Maricopa County is able to fully restore the trust of the electorate,” Heap wrote, in the statement.
Why were they removed from the voter list?
In the statement, Heap said each of the people who were removed from the voter list were previously placed on a list of inactive voters.
The voters, Heap wrote, were also given multiple notices on updating their voter registration information, and they failed to respond for either four years, or “through the date of the second general election for federal office following the date of the notice from the county recorder that was sent.”
Has the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office removed voters in recent years?
Big picture view:
On their website, the Recorder’s office said that “a significant number of individuals have been removed from voter rolls” from 2021 to 2024.
- 2021: 147,769
- 2022: 202,774
- 2023: 67,353
- 2024: 181,669
How does Maricopa County maintain its voter list?
Dig deeper:
The Recorder’s office said they use a number of reporting systems to verify and update voter information, including:
- Secretary of State’s Office
- Arizona Department of Health Service’s Bureau of Vital Records
- Arizona Department of Transportation
- State and federal court system
- United States Postal Service National Change of Address reports
- Monthly reports from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC)
How often do I need to register to vote?
Per the Recorder’s Office, voters need to update their registration if they moved, need to update their name, or would like to change their political affiliation.
How can I check my own voter registration status?
You can check your voter registration status on the Arizona Secretary of State’s website.
This post was originally published on here
