Trump Alerted After 1,357 Arizona Primary Ballots Returned As Undeliverable

Former Arizona Republican Party Chair Gina Swoboda said she alerted President Donald Trump after 1,357 mail ballots sent to Navajo County voters were returned as undeliverable before Arizona’s July 21 primary election.

Swoboda, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for secretary of state, told The Arizona Republic that she texted Trump about the returned ballots.

“It’s a critical threat to the system,” Swoboda said. “It’s about everybody being disenfranchised.”

Navajo County Chief Deputy Recorder Jose Lerma told the newspaper Thursday that the Recorder’s Office had received 1,357 returned ballot envelopes. The total exceeded an earlier estimate of approximately 900 ballots disclosed by Recorder David Marshall during a July 14 meeting of the Navajo County Board of Supervisors.

The county mailed early ballots through the U.S. Postal Service on June 24, the first day of early voting, and began receiving undeliverable ballots on June 30, Lerma said. The returned mail affected voters throughout the county.

Arizona’s primary election calendar listed June 24 as the beginning of early voting, July 10 as the deadline to request a ballot by mail and July 21 as Election Day. Voters who did not receive their requested ballots could vote early in person or visit a county vote center on Election Day.

Marshall told county supervisors that ballots had been returned from addresses in Show Low, Snowflake and Winslow. He said the Recorder’s Office checked the addresses through its election systems before mailing the ballots.

“A lot of our voters are upset about it. People are calling and saying, ‘My address is correct,’” Marshall said during the meeting, according to The Republic.

“The addresses, 99% of them are accurate according to our system, but we don’t understand why they’re not reaching their homes,” Marshall added.

Marshall said county officials also encountered confusion over whether the postage bill for the ballot mailing had been paid.

“There was a misunderstanding that we were not paying our postage bills,” Marshall said. “We pay our postage bills.”

The Postal Service told KJZZ that Navajo County mailed approximately 40,000 ballots and requested return service for mail that could not be delivered.

“Approximately 2.5% of them (900) were returned to the election office because they were undeliverable as addressed or the forwarding time had expired,” USPS spokesperson Sherry Patterson said. “The Postal Service followed proper protocol for the Return Service that the County requested.”

The Postal Service defines undeliverable-as-addressed mail as mail that cannot be delivered to the name and address listed and must be forwarded, returned to the sender or handled under applicable postal rules. The category can include mail sent to an incorrect or vacant address and mail for which a forwarding order has expired.

Lerma said the Recorder’s Office sent each affected voter a forwardable notice informing the voter that the ballot had been returned. The county’s Republican and Democratic parties also contacted voters using information available through a ballot-curing file, according to The Republic.

“All of these voters were sent a notice letting them know their mail was returned, and that was a forwardable letter, so hopefully get to them wherever they’re at so they can respond and let us know whether their address was correct or not,” Lerma said.

Marshall also posted a July 14 video urging county residents who had not received their expected early ballots to contact the Recorder’s Office.

The Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) is actively working alongside the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Navajo County Recorder’s Office to review reports of undeliverable ballots in Navajo County.

Immediately after learning of the issue, the AZGOP and RNC identified…

— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) July 26, 2026

In a statement posted to X on July 26, the Arizona Republican Party said, 

“The Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) is actively working alongside the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Navajo County Recorder’s Office to review reports of undeliverable ballots in Navajo County. Immediately after learning of the issue, the AZGOP and RNC identified affected voters, notified them of the situation, and encouraged them to vote in person after the deadline to request a mail ballot had passed. Any claims stating the contrary are false and/or misleading. Rest assured, the AZGOP has been and will remain in close coordination with the Navajo County Recorder’s Office to work towards a timely and thorough resolution.”

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ office are gathering information about the incident.

“We are seeking information on the situation to determine if a full investigation is warranted,” Attorney General Kris Mayes’ spokesperson Richie Taylor told The Republic.

Fontes spokesperson Calli Jones said the Secretary of State’s Office was also working to obtain additional information.

Federal officials are also examining the issue, according to Bloomberg News. Lerma said the Recorder’s Office had not been contacted by the Attorney General’s Office or a federal agency as of Thursday.

The White House did not respond to The Republic’s request for comment. USPS also did not provide the newspaper with a response before publication.

The newspaper reviewed a photograph of one returned ballot envelope bearing a yellow postal label that read, “POSTAGE DUE RETURN TO SENDER VACANT UNABLE TO FORWARD.” The envelope also displayed a Navajo County Recorder’s Office receipt mark dated July 31, 2026, one week after the report was published.

Navajo County reported 72,918 registered voters for the primary, including 28,392 Republicans, 22,797 Democrats and 20,478 voters registered without a party affiliation, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s July voter-registration report.

The county’s unofficial election results showed 16,234 ballots cast, including 9,010 early ballots and 7,224 Election Day ballots. Overall turnout stood at 22.26 percent.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that American Indians and Alaska Natives comprise 43.3 percent of Navajo County’s population. The county includes portions of the Navajo Nation, Hopi Reservation and Fort Apache Indian Reservation.

The number of voters who received replacement ballots or voted in person after their original ballot was returned remained unclear Friday.