Arizona officially withdraws from controversial Crosscheck program

PHOENIX--The Office of the Arizona Secretary of State has formally withdrawn Arizona from the controversial Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck program.

The Office of the Kansas Secretary of State began administering Crosscheck in 2005. It was intended to compare voter registration data across participating states to ensure that people were not registered to vote in multiple states.

Arizona began sharing voter registration information with Crosscheck in 2009. However, questions about the security of the data exchanged and the accuracy of the program results have long surrounded the program, and its future is in limbo.

“I am not willing to take any chances with the security and accuracy of our voter registration list. I want to make it absolutely clear that we are not sending information to Crosscheck. Arizona voters will not be put at risk of having their voter registration wrongly canceled based on inaccurate information,” Hobbs said.

On March 19, Arizona Elections Director Sambo “Bo” Dul, sent a letter to Crosscheck administrators confirming that Arizona will not participate in the program. The state stopped sending data to Crosscheck in 2017. To help maintain the accuracy of voter registration rolls, Arizona is currently a member of the Electronic Registration Information Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that is managed, and governed by participating states.

Additionally, Dul requested that any data that Arizona previously submitted to the program be removed.

“Our office was assured that Crosscheck did not retain voter lists after running their comparison reports,” Dul said. “Unfortunately, previously provided voter information could still appear, including erroneously, in Crosscheck reports provided to participating states in past years.”

Voters can confirm their registration status at www.arizona.vote.