There is a good reason why potentially thousands of registered voters in Pima County canโt trust the new registration card they got in the mail.
Thatโs because a mailing of roughly a half-million new voter registration cards last month included thousands showing out-of-date information. And they were mailed just as voters who had changed their party affiliation were also receiving their new card.
Officials concede it was poor timing to test of the countyโs voter database in the weeks preceding the stateโs Presidential Preference Election. They knew several thousand local voters had changed their party affiliation to participate in the Presidential Preference Election, which was not open to voters registered as an independent.
The state requires that the county recorderโs officer test the database every presidential election year.
The two nearly identical cards likely crossed in the mail. Thatโs because the countyโs vendor needed several weeks to print and mail roughly 500,000 voter registration cards while simultaneously printing new cards for voters who made changes to their voter registration. The confusion could become an issue again.
With a month before the state votes on a controversial plan to fund K-12 education, Monday marks the deadline to register, or update, voter registration with the state.
Thereโs less to worry about in the next monthโs special election because unlike the Presidential Preference Election, it is open to any registered voter. And those on the countyโs permanent early voter list donโt have to worry about polling locations.
However, with three different government agencies looking into why some voters were disenfranchised in Arizonaโs Presidential Preference Election, and a lawsuit seeking to overturn it, the advice from elected officials is the same: every person concerned about their voter registration needs to confirm the information it contains.
To check your registration online, go to servicearizona.com and click on the Voter Registration box.
Voters also can call the County Recorderโs office at 724-4330.
Other options include completing forms at any of the following locations: any Pima County Recorderโs office; any Arizona Department of Motor Vehicle branch; all post offices and libraries; political party headquarters; and city/town hall.
