Why a recorder's plan to change 137 voters' registration status in a key election battleground raises legal questions
Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap said he plans to soon refer suspected noncitizen voters identified via a federal system to law enforcement for prosecution and change their registration status, but election lawyers and experts questioned whether his office is following the correct legal process.
Heap, a Republican, said during a live interview on Friday with KTAR News that he would send the referrals “probably by the beginning of next week.”
He also plans to move the voters to “not eligible” status pending receipt of documents proving their citizenship, per a letter he sent on March 11 to Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat. The document was obtained by Votebeat via a public records request.
His remarks came a month after his office said in a press release that it had identified 137 noncitizens on the county’s voter rolls while attempting to confirm the citizenship status of 61,681 voters impacted by a longstanding state record-keeping error. In that release, his office had said it would refer the voters to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
https://www.votebeat.org/arizona/2026/03/16/maricopa-county-justin-heap-suspected-noncitizen-voter-status/