Twenty-five U.S. citizens in Arizona have regained access to voting days before the November 3 midterm elections after being wrongly flagged as possible noncitizens by a federal database overhauled by the Trump administration.

The resolution followed a legal dispute involving Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. After court-ordered mediation on Friday, October 23, the parties reached an agreement to restore the affected voters’ registration status, allowing them to participate in the upcoming election.

The controversy centered on the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, which was used to identify potentially ineligible noncitizens registered to vote. Heap’s office flagged 207 voters as possible noncitizens earlier this year and referred their cases for investigation.

Of the 60 flagged individuals who had previously cast ballots, an investigation by Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell found that 52 were U.S. citizens and only eight were noncitizens.

Despite the findings, 25 citizens remained classified as ineligible to vote, prompting Mayes and Fontes to file a lawsuit seeking the immediate restoration of their voting rights.

Following mediation, Heap agreed to reinstate the affected voters. Twenty-four registrations were restored as part of the settlement, while another voter had already regained active status after independently providing proof of citizenship. The attorney general agreed to dismiss the lawsuit.

The dispute also highlighted a longstanding error in Arizona’s driver’s license records that affected voters who had registered without providing the documentary proof of citizenship required under state law.

Heap maintained that his office needed legally sufficient documentation before restoring the registrations. Mayes, however, argued that the voters should not have been blocked from voting without evidence confirming they were noncitizens.

The resolution came just days before the midterm elections, raising concerns about the reliability of citizenship verification systems and the potential consequences of administrative errors for eligible voters.

The case has renewed scrutiny of efforts to identify noncitizens on voter rolls and the safeguards needed to ensure that eligible U.S. citizens can exercise their constitutional right to vote.