Maricopa County Election Officials Processing Onslaught Of Registration Forms

By Jude Joffe-Block
Published: Thursday, October 20, 2016 - 10:01pm

 The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office received 110,000 new voter registrations between August and Oct. 10, thanks in part to record-setting registration drives.

The recorder’s office is still processing new registrations. A portion of the paper forms are incomplete, which has contributed to delays in processing the forms, according to spokeswoman Elizabeth Bartholomew.

“It might be illegible, it might be things crossed off, information missing, information that doesn’t match up,” Bartholomew said. “That takes us a long time to go really through all this and figure out what the correct information is.”

Bartholomew said recorders around the state are reporting similar issues. She said county election officials are working around the clock to process the forms. When there is contact information on a problematic voter registration from, Bartholomew said her office will reach out to the individual.

The One Arizona coalition led the state’s largest registration effort by signing up more than 150,000 voters throughout the state. Communications director Pita Juarez said that each One Arizona form went through a quality control process before it was turned over to the recorder, and voters were called if forms were incomplete.

Bartholomew said her office’s goal is to finish processing voter registration forms in the coming days. After that, newly registered voters will be able to check their registration on the recorder’s website or the Arizona Secretary of State website. Bartholomew said anyone with quesitons about their registration can also call the Maricopa County Recorder's Office.

Politics