Eight noncitizens voted illegally in Arizona elections, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said, sharing the first results of her investigation in Arizona’s most vote-rich county.
The number of noncitizens who voted was too small to sway any election, according to the prosecutor, a Republican. It was a smaller number of noncitizen voters than Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap claimed had voted illegally when he referred the names to Mitchell months ago.
Maricopa County is home to some 2.5 millionregistered voters.
“Though our findings today would not change the outcome of any past election, every ineligible voter dilutes the vote of a citizen," Mitchell said. "It's crucial we fix this going forward so there are no doubts cast on the security
and the results of our elections."
Mitchell made the announcement at a Sept. 28 news conference. Early voting was set to begin less than two weeks later, on Oct. 7, for the pivotal November midterm election.
“I'm not trying to make a political statement. I'm fulfilling a promise that I've made in repeated press conferences where I've been asked about this, that as soon as I got through the 60, that I would report my findings. These are my findings,” Mitchell said.
The county is working with Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes to investigate 147 additional claims of noncitizens on the voter rolls, Mitchell said. Mayes' office declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
In March, the Republican recorder Heap gave Mitchell more than 200 names he suspected to be noncitizens who were registered to vote in Maricopa County. Using the federal SAVE Database, the recorder claimed 60 noncitizens had voted illegally.
According to Mitchell, the number was much smaller. Eight noncitizens voted sporadically in elections from 2012 to 2025. No more than three voters cast ballots in the same election, according to Mitchell. Fifty-two of the people identified by Heap were U.S. citizens, Mitchell said.
Noncitizen voting claims have been at the heart of President Donald Trump’s effort to nationalize elections in his second term. The Justice Department is aware of Maricopa County’s findings, Mitchell said.
“I'm not in contact with the Trump administration,” she added.
Mitchell did not announce any charges against the people who voted, but she did not rule out bringing charges in the future. She sent a letter with her initial findings to Heap’s office, she said. Heap did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I’m looking at this threefold. I'm looking at it as a prosecutor for potential criminal charges. I'm looking at it as the civil attorney who represents the Recorder's Office, and I'm also looking at it as a citizen who is concerned about election integrity,” Mitchell said.
Though the eight voters are not citizens, they are in the country legally, Mitchell said. Five were independent voters, two were registered Republicans and one was a registered Democrat.
Mitchell said most of the noncitizen voters got on the rolls through an issue at the Motor Vehicle Department. People who got a driver’s license before the state instituted a proof of citizenship requirement in 1996 and then renewed that license were erroneously allowed to register to vote.
“This is reminiscent of the flaw that was discovered back in 2024, where people got their initial driver's license before proof of citizenship was required, and then they renewed their driver's license, and the MVD system basically grandfathered them in and treated them as though they had provided proof of citizenship,” Mitchell said.
Seven out of the eight noncitizens were never registered to vote until they renewed their driver’s license, Mitchell said. The remaining voter submitted their registration on a written form, Mitchell said.
Mitchell’s office is working on legislation to close the loophole and prevent future issues.
“It is possible that we will see more registered voters flagged in the future, and it will require a legislative fix to close the loophole that is allowing non-citizens to become registered,” Mitchell said.
Stephanie Murray covers national politics and the Trump administration for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. She co-hosts “The Gaggle,” The Republic’s weekly politics podcast. Reach her at stephanie.murray@usatodayco.com, on X and TikTok @stephanie_murr and on Instagram @stephaniemurray.news.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 8 noncitizens voted in Maricopa County, investigation shows. What it means
