Arizona state prosecutors are nearly finished with their criminal investigation into a Republican legislative candidate who appears to have voted illegally for more than a decade.

Neil DeSanti is mounting his fifth bid for elected office this year, hoping to secure one of his north Phoenix district’s two seats in the Arizona House of Representatives. And he’s voted in at least 16 elections since he registered to vote in 2012.

Amid his candidacy two years ago, the Arizona Mirror exclusively reported that DeSanti had never had his rights restored after pleading guilty in two felony cases in 2010. While people with only one felony will automatically have their rights restored once their sentence is completed and any required restitution is paid, people like DeSanti who have two or more felonies must petition the court to get their rights restored.

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DeSanti didn’t apply to get his rights restored until three days after the Mirror’s report, the same day that he filed his nominating petitions for the 2024 election. DeSanti dropped that bid for office after a fellow Republican in DeSanti’s district challenged his eligibility to be a candidate because he was not legally registered to vote.

In addition to registering to vote and casting ballots without ever having had his civil rights restored, DeSanti also told the Mirror in 2024 that he owned firearms, something felons cannot do under state and federal law if their rights have not been restored.

Richie Taylor, a spokesman for the Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, told the Mirror that the Attorney General’s Office opened a criminal investigation into DeSanti in late 2024 based on the Mirror’s reporting.

“I would expect it to be finished soon,” Taylor said in an email.

Taylor wouldn’t comment on the focus of the investigation, but DeSanti could face prison time for falsely registering and illegally voting.

When Arizonans register to vote, they swear that the information they provide is correct, and failure to do so can result in a class 6 felony charge for false voter registration. When he registered to vote in 2012, and then in multiple subsequent voter registration updates, DeSanti declared that he is “NOT a convicted FELON or my civil rights are restored.” That was not true.

Additionally, DeSanti could face class 5 felonies for each election he voted in — as of early 2024, he had voted in 16 different elections — without being legally registered to vote.

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DeSanti told the Mirror two years ago that he believed he was legally registered, but that won’t be much of a defense in court if he is criminally charged. In 2024, the Arizona Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of Kyle Anthony Clark, who was indicted for false registration and illegal voting in 2021, and concluded that prosecutors do not need to prove that a person knew they were voting illegally, just that they were ineligible to vote and did so anyway.

Since 2021, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office has prosecuted at least six people with prior felony convictions for registering to vote and casting ballots without first having their rights restored.

For instance, Kenneth Russell Nelson registered to vote in 2018 and cast ballots in the 2018 primary and general elections, then again in the 2020 general election. But he had never had his rights restored following a 2007 drunk driving felony. Nelson was indicted for four felonies: one count of false registration and three counts of illegal voting. He pleaded guilty to attempted illegal voting.

Likewise, a San Tan Valley man named Roberto Garcia pleaded guilty to illegally voting in 2020 because he registered to vote and cast a ballot without having his rights restored.

And even though DeSanti continues to seek elected office, he still hasn’t had his civil rights restored.

Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner Christina Henderson restored DeSanti’s rights in relation to a 2004 drunk driving case, in which he pleaded guilty to felony endangerment.

But she denied his other request in a case where DeSanti pleaded guilty to felony possession of burglary tools after he and his cousin were caught stealing a metal ramp from a commercial yard near downtown Phoenix.

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office urged the court to deny DeSanti’s request to have his rights restored. Henderson denied the petition because that crime had a victim and occurred while he was on release in the drunk driving case. “Denial is in (the) best interest of public safety,” Henderson wrote on July 23, 2024.

The Arizona Agenda first reported that DeSanti’s rights have not yet been restored.