Arizona Election Review Finds Only 28 Ballots Flagged for Possible Fraud Out of 3.6 Million Cast

Minimal Evidence of Illegal Voting in Arizona 2024 Presidential Election

PHOENIX — A comprehensive review of Arizona's 2024 presidential election has found only 28 ballots potentially cast illegally out of 3.6 million ballots cast statewide. The numbers represent just 0.0000083 percent of all ballots and suggest the election integrity system is functioning properly.

The review was conducted by the Electronic Registration Information Center, a nonprofit organization that crosschecks voter data across multiple states. The center compared Arizona's 2024 voter information with data from 18 other states, providing what its director called a "good sample" that reflects strong election administration nationwide.

Double Voting Accounted for Most Cases

Of the 28 referrals to the attorney general, 25 cases involved individuals who voted in Arizona's November 2024 election and later cast ballots in another state. Because the second vote makes the practice illegal, Arizona authorities are not charging these individuals but are warning them of potential future prosecution.

Another three cases remain under investigation by the state Attorney General's Office. One case involves an individual who appears to have voted a ballot belonging to a deceased person.

The geographic distribution of cases shows most investigations involve Maricopa County voters. All but two of the 28 referrals involved Maricopa County, with the other two cases involving voters from Apache and Mohave counties.

The breakdown by party affiliation among the 28 referrals reveals a mix:

• 15 Republican voters
• 8 independents
• 4 Democrats
• 1 voter with undetermined party affiliation

Officials Defend Election System

Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said the results should quiet conspiracy theorists who have stoked fears about election fraud. The message will get through if people are paying attention, Fontes told Capitol Media Services. It shows the system works because these folks were caught.

Shane Hamlin, executive director of the Electronic Registration Information Center, echoed that view. A far smaller number of people want to commit voter fraud than what people suspect, Hamlin said.

ERIC Membership Growing

The Electronic Registration Information Center has seen its membership expand since the 2020 election. The organization came under fire from election skeptics after 2020, causing membership to drop. Populous Republican states including Florida and Texas left the organization.

The numbers are now ticking back up, with 26 states participating and New York and Virginia expected to join. States that join ERIC share voter registration data and identification data from their motor vehicle divisions. They mask details such as the last four digits of a person's Social Security number but provide enough data to pinpoint a voter.

How ERIC Works

The center's staff uses information to create reports on various voter issues including:

• Voters who have moved from one state to another
• Voters who moved within their state
• Voters with duplicate registrations in the same state
• Voters who died as reported to the Social Security Administration

These reports are crosschecked with participating states to identify voting issues. The organization's initial comparison identified 316 cases of possible illegal voting in Arizona. Those cases were then reviewed by the Arizona Secretary of State and the 15 county recorders, resulting in the 28 referrals to the attorney general for review.

Voter Response

One voter who was flagged for voting in both Arizona and Washington in 2024 described being flummoxed when she received a letter from the Attorney General's Office stating she appeared to have voted twice in the 2024 election. The letter directed her to cancel her voter registration in Washington if Arizona is indeed her primary residence and warned that any potential future violations could result in possible prosecution.

The woman asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution but emphasized she was 76 years old and has not lived in Washington in more than a decade. She has called the Attorney General's Office to better understand the situation and said she may contact authorities in her former state to find out why her name would still be on that state's voter rolls and how a ballot got cast under her name.

Historical Context

Richie Taylor, communications director for Attorney General Kris Mayes, noted that historically when double voting has occurred it is usually an innocent mistake. One example is a snowbird who mistakenly voted in two states, believing that was legitimate because they pay property taxes in both states.

The law is clear though. A person can only vote once in an election. Arizona has precedent for prosecuting double voters. In 2008, a Green Valley couple admitted to double voting in the election. They voted by mail in their previous home state of Kansas but later cast ballots in Arizona in the same election. James and Karen Marshall pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and were sentenced to a year of probation.

A Bullhead City woman was found guilty of voting in Colorado's 2010 general election by mailing her ballot from her Arizona address. She then cast a ballot in Arizona's general election. She lost her voting privileges and was sentenced to three years of supervised probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.

Investigation Scope

The review of potential illegal voting in Arizona was limited to the 2024 presidential election. Other cases of illegal voting involve voting a dead person's ballot. In 2020, Krista Michelle Conner of Sierra Vista was sentenced to three years of probation after she was found guilty of voting a deceased relative's ballot.

The attorney general's office has also been investigating other election integrity issues. Meanwhile, Arizona lawmakers have sought to stop the attorney general from suing groundwater pumpers in various disputes over water rights and environmental regulations.