The Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) warned Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) it will bring a federal lawsuit against him over his alleged failure to maintain accurate voter lists in Arizona. Fontes claimed the non-profit’s concerns were without merit in a response letter, but AFEC President Scot Mussi told The Arizona Sun Times that he is moving forward on the issue.
In a report stating there are more registered voters than residents, or an “abnormally high” number of registered voters, in 14 of Arizona’s 15 counties, AFEC said it sent its letter to Fontes (pictured above) on August 8, urging him to “take his job as Secretary of State seriously” or face legal action.
AFEC reports that four Arizona counties – Apache, La Paz, Navajo, and Santa Cruz – have more registered voters than residents, when comparing Arizona’s records with those of the U.S. Census Bureau. While the national voter registration rate is 69.1 percent, the report adds that nine more Arizona counties “have voter registration rates that exceed 90 percent of their citizen voting-age population,” and a 10th, Graham County, “outpaces the national voter registration rate with over 80 percent voter registrations.”
The counties accused of having an abnormal number of registered voters are Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Maricopa, Mohave, Pima, Pinal, Yavapai, and Yuma.
Reached via email by The Sun Times, Fontes’s office disagreed with AFEC’s findings, and provided a copy[PDF hyperlink here] of the legal letter sent in response to AFEC’s concerns. In the letter, the Secretary of State claimed AFEC’s report was missing data for 2020, Arizona was actually below the national average for voter registration participation, and that U.S. Census data on population in Arizona is generally lower than that kept by the Arizona Secretary of State.
Mussi, who joined AFEC in 2013, called the response “typical” in a phone call with The Sun Times.
“Any time you call into question their ability to keep voter rolls up to date, they’re going to claim everything’s okay,” said Mussi. “We still don’t believe that; we don’t believe the numbers add up, and believe that they’re not meeting their responsibilities and requirements under the [National Voter Registration Act] to keep updated voter rolls. We’re going to detail that in a reply that’s going to be coming in the next few weeks.”
He said he hoped Fontes would work with AFEC to address its concerns in future correspondence, but expressed frustration with the Secretary of State.
“This was a guy, Secretary of State Fontes, that when he got challenged on social media told one of his constituents to ‘eff off.'” Mussi added, “Nothing surprises me from him. He’s thin-skinned, has a short temper, and generally people that have lots of hubris and make lots of mistakes act in this way, so nothing surprises me.”
“Snark doesn’t get the job done. It doesn’t ensure clean voter rolls,” Mussi told The Sun Times. “It might make them feel good, but it doesn’t solve problems.”
Asked if he thought the matter would end up in federal court, Mussi replied, “It’s up to him; the ball is going to be in his court.” Mussi explained, “We hope he does his job. If he doesn’t, we’re going to pursue every avenue to ensure he does.”
In its letter, AFEC wrote it hopes “to avoid litigation” and invited Fontes to “bring Arizona into compliance” with federal law, and develop a “list maintenance program” capable of identifying and removing people who are ineligible to vote because they changed their address, are incarcerated, have died, or are otherwise unable to legally vote.
“While we hope to avoid litigation,” the AFEC letter concluded, “if we do not receive the requested response, and if Arizona fails to take the necessary curative steps to resolve the issues identified in this letter, you will be subject to a lawsuit seeking declaratory and injunctive relief.”
Speaking to The Sun Times, Mussi stressed, “When you’re talking about building an electoral system that people have faith in, the foundation is clean and accurate voter rolls.”
Gina Swoboda, executive director of the Phoenix-based Voter Reference Foundation (VRF), recently discussed the importance of accurate voter rolls during an appearance on The Jenny Beth Show in which she discussed the challenges to Arizona election integrity.
“The entire security of the election depends upon that list being accurate,” Swoboda told host Jenny Beth Martin.
A report recently revealed Maricopa County, which was identified as problematic by AFEC, has removed 222 foreign nationals from its voter rolls in recent years, with nine of them casting a combined 12 ballots across four separate elections.
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Tom Pappert is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Tom on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Adrian Fontes” by Arizona Secretary of State. Background Photo “Arizona Capitol” by Wars. CC BY-SA 3.0.
