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PHOENIX - We're learning more about a big mistake connected to the Maricopa County Recorder's Office.
The backstory:
Thousands of voters were told incorrectly that their voting rights were in jeopardy, and now they have to fix the problem themselves.
Voters will have 90 days to send back documented proof of citizenship to be able to vote in local elections.
They were sent a letter asking if they had moved, then were told to provide documentation and proof of citizenship.
Turns out, it was all an error.
On Friday, June 27, the county recorder's office acknowledged the error, blaming a third-party vendor.
FOX 10 reached out to the Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap multiple times for an interview, and he was unavailable for comment.
"I got pretty revved up": Voters angry over address confirmation letters from Maricopa County
A mistake from the Maricopa County Recorder's Office left thousands of people concerned about their information. FOX 10's Brian Webb has more on what your should know if you received a letter.
What they're saying:
The former county recorder, Stephen Richer, explains two lists got mixed up.
"The letter they were supposed to receive pertains to that special group of people who still need to provide proof of citizenship because the MVD had thought they had been grandfathered into the document to proof of citizenship requirement, but they actually haven’t and that was discovered last year. I don’t know why the recorder's office is starting on it now," Richer said.
He acknowledged mistakes happen, but said Heap not taking the interview himself "cowardice in the extreme and piss poor leadership. Never in a million years would have done that."
Voters are still left with questions.
"The cherry on the parfait is, according to the county recorder's office, I can still vote in federal elections, but I can't vote in local and state elections. So I'm a citizen of the federal government, but I'm not a citizen of Arizona? How does that make any sense?" a voter said.
It’s still unclear if every person who received the first letter in error will receive the second letter and have to provide proof of citizenship.
Heap responds to error days later
On the night of June 30, Heap released a statement on what happened.
"Today, in response to new information uncovered during our investigation into the factors that led up to 83,000 receiving erroneous letters, Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap issued the following update.
Last week, my office notified the public of voter correspondence sent in error by a third-party vendor for Maricopa County. As we have continued to investigate what occurred to ensure that it does not occur again, I became aware of a breakdown in communication that ultimately led to this error. The error appears to have been twofold. The first error occurred when the vendor inadvertently switched the content of the proofs. The second error occurred when an employee of the MCRO mistakenly approved that incorrect proof. As soon as the team at MCRO became aware of the error, we began working to remedy the situation. At this time, nearly all corrected correspondence has been mailed.
Let me be extremely clear, no voter records were effected due to this error.
While this was ultimately a mistake on the part of the third-party vendor, I take responsibility for the breakdown in communication that led to the error. We have taken corrective action to ensure that an error like this will not occur in the future.
Please be aware that the approved correspondence was for voters needing to provide Documentary Proof of Citizenship (DPOC) related to the MVD glitch. The 90-day period for return of DPOC begins on the date the notice is sent out. Due to the mailing error, the operative date for the start of the 90-day period will be the date that the corrected letter is sent to each voter."