Tag: Secretary of State Adrian Fontes

Arizona State Sen. Jake Hoffman Responds After Tourism Director Resigns Following Demand to Probe $700,000 Logo Redesign

Tom Pappert
Jake Hoffman

Arizona State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek) told The Arizona Sun Times that any cabinet member unwilling to undergo an “in-depth, thorough, accurate, and honest” vetting process by the Arizona Senate should resign.

The state lawmaker made the comments to The Sun Times after Arizona Tourism Director Lisa Urias resigned her position effective December 4, announcing the decision shortly after Hoffman led Republicans questioning the Arizona Office of Tourism’s $700,000 campaign to refresh its public image, which included a $15,225 logo redesign from the brother of the person running a marketing company Urias owns, as was first reported by Arizona Agenda.

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Arizona Secretary of State Admits ‘We Don’t Know’ Number of Non-Citizens Registered to Vote After Ditching AZGOP Meeting

Tom Pappert
People Voting

Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Chair Gina Swoboda told The Arizona Sun Times that Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes did not contact her office to reschedule a meeting this week to discuss the 218,000 registered voters who may not be citizens of the United States.

It was revealed last month that Arizona does not have proof of citizenship records for nearly 100,000 voters in Arizona. A second election integrity issue was raised by Fontes to Swoboda on Friday, when the AZGOP chair issued a press release announcing a meeting was scheduled between the Secretary of State and the party.

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Federal Court Blocks Arizona from Election Manual Changes to Regulate Speech, ‘Disenfranchise’ Voters over Delayed Certification

Tom Pappert
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi

A federal judge on Friday night issued a ruling that blocks changes to the Election Procedures Manual (EPM) attempted by Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes that would have restricted speech and potentially forfeited votes from entire counties who declined to comply with deadlines set by the state.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi, who was nominated by former President Donald Trump, temporarily blocked Fontes’ proposed rule change that would give his office the power to decline to accept the votes from an Arizona county that refused to certify its ballots, even if local officials presented concerns about fraud.

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Secretaries of State from Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia Claim AI ‘Disinformation’ Top Threat in 2024

Tom Pappert
Arizona Sec State Adrian Fontes

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes on Sunday joined a number of his counterparts from other states for a Meet the Press panel discussion, and the top state election official claimed that artificial intelligence (AI) will pose new “mis- and disinformation” threats during the 2024 elections.

Fontes told Meet the Press host Kristen Walker, “AI is not a new weapon. It’s an amplifier and a magnifier of mis- and disinformation,” and revealed that his office held a “tabletop exercise” that apparently involved both election officials and members of the media.

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Swing States Using Taxpayer Dollars to Turn Out Democratic Voters

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Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes

Election officials in two key swing states are using taxpayer money to register and turn out voters who will most likely vote for Democrats in the November election.

As reported by The Federalist, Democratic officials in the states of Arizona and Nevada have announced initiatives to turn out younger voters, who overwhelmingly lean Democratic, with roughly 6 months to go before the election in the fall. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D-Ariz.) announced that his office will partner with the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge to promote the “Arizona Campus Voting Challenge,” which Fontes falsely claims is a “nonpartisan initiative.”

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Katie Hobbs Used State Resources for Censorship ‘Volunteers’ Who Monitored Twitter for ‘Misinformation’ in 2022 Arizona Elections: Email

Tom Pappert
Gov. Katie Hobbs

An email surfaced by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) on Tuesday revealed Governor Katie Hobbs used government resources to facilitate a volunteer force that flagged “misinformation” ahead of the 2022 election, including on Election Day.

The legal organization explained that it revealed the email through an Arizona Public Records Law request to the Arizona Secretary of State which requested communications between Hobbs’ office and social media platforms Twitter, Facebook and Instagram between January 7, 2019 and January 1, 2023.

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Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes Frustrated Biden Justice Department Won’t Prosecute ‘Threats Against Election Administrators’

Tom Pappert

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) expressed “frustration” with the Biden administration during a Monday interview with Rolling Stone in which he claimed Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice should be targeting those who make “threats” to election workers and administrators.

Fontes called Garland a “cautious” person and asserted “he is being far too cautious here, when it comes to these investigations and prosecutions of threats against election administrators and election workers.”

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Arizona Legislature Expected to Sue Secretary of State Adrian Fontes over ‘Politically Loaded Election Manual’

Tom Pappert
Arizona A.G. Adrian Fontes

The Arizona Legislature is expected to file a lawsuit against Secretary of State Adrian Fontes over his “politically loaded” Elections Procedures Manual (EPM), according to statements made Sunday and Monday by the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP), House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria), and Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Mesa).

A press release from the AZOP on Sunday “urgently” called attention “to Liberal Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ recent release of the Elections Procedure Manual (EPM), strategically issued at the last minute during a busy holiday weekend.” The party warned, the “timing seems intended to minimize scrutiny and public awareness.”

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State Election Officials Say They Will Defer to the Courts on Removing Trump from 2024 Ballot

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Top election officials in multiple states have said they would defer to the courts on the question of removing former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot.

Lawsuits to remove Trump from the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars certain government officials who took an oath to the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection” from holding office, have been filed in a number of states, including Colorado, Michigan, and Minnesota. Democratic and Republican secretaries of state in places where lawsuits have been filed say this is a question the courts need to weigh in on, according to multiple reports.

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AFEC Warns Arizona Secretary of State ‘Snark Doesn’t Get the Job Done’ in Dispute Over Voter Rolls

Tom Pappert

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. AFEC gave the state until November 6 to rectify these issues, or else the non-profit will launch a federal lawsuit against Fontes.

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 on August 8, urging him to “take his job as Secretary of State seriously” or face legal action.

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Arizona Secretary of State Fontes Will Publish Public Comments on 2023 Elections Procedures Manual

Hannah Poling

A spokesperson for Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told The Arizona Sun Times that the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office will publish all public comments on the 2023 Election Procedure Manual on the website after a review of comments has been completed.

“The comments will be made public after staff has a chance to review. Once that review is complete, it will be posted on the Secretary of State’s website,” the spokesperson told The Sun Times.

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Arizona Republican Lawmakers Want Transparency and Publication of Public Comments on 2023 Elections Procedures Manual

Hannah Poling

Arizona Republican lawmakers demanded that Secretary of State Adrian Fontes publish all public comments on the 2023 Election Procedure Manual on the Arizona Secretary of State’s website to demonstrate his commitment to transparency.

This follows State Representatives Steve Montenegro (R-Goodyear) and Michael Carbone (R-Buckeye) requesting that Fontes extend the “extremely short” deadline for public comment on the 259-page manual, which he refused.

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Republican Lawmakers Urge Secretary Fontes to Extend Public Comment Period for 2023 Arizona Elections Procedures Manual

Hannah Poling

Arizona Republican lawmakers are urging Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to extend the deadline for public comment on the 2023 Election Procedure Manual.

State Representatives Steve Montenegro (R-Goodyear) and Michael Carbone (R-Buckeye) are calling on Fontes to extend the “extremely short” public comment period he set for the 2023 Elections Procedure Manual. Fontes released the manual draft on August 1st and set the deadline for August 15th, even though he is not required to produce it to Governor Katie Hobbs or Attorney General Kris Mayes until October 1st.

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Maricopa County Report Identifies Glaring Election Errors as Lake, Finchem Challenges Continue

Just the News

While Maricopa County released a report on the election failures of the 2022 elections, Arizona election lawsuits continue as 2022 GOP nominees Kari Lake and Mark Finchem file motions for reconsideration in their respective races for governor and secretary of state.

On Monday, Maricopa County released a report by former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor on the causes of the ballot printer issues that occurred at more than 70 vote centers on Election Day last year, which resulted in long lines as many voters’ ballots were unreadable by tabulator machines.

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Arizona Free Enterprise Club Sues State over Early Ballot Signature Verification Process

Neil Jones

The Arizona Free Enterprise Club filed a lawsuit against the state Monday, alleging that the early ballot signature verification process outlined in the Elections Procedures Manual (EPM) violates state law.

“The signature presented on an early ballot affidavit is the fulcrum on which the integrity of that ballot pivots; it is the only means by which the county recorder can verify that a person casting an early ballot by mail is, in fact, a duly qualified elector,” according to the lawsuit. “And given the centrality of early ballots to elections in this state, signature verification is also foundational to the overall integrity of Arizona’s elections.”

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Kari Lake Attorney Tim LaSota on Adrian Fontes’s Investigation Request: ‘Another Attempt to Weaponize the Justice System’

Neil Jones

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) sent a letter to Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) Monday, requesting she investigates Republican Kari Lake for allegedly violating state law by sharing images of voter signatures on social media. Tim LaSota, one of Lake’s attorneys, accused Fontes of selectively quoting the law to defame Lake.

“This is becoming all too common in politics – another attempt to weaponize the justice system with a phony allegation against a Republican. Adrian Fontes selectively quotes the statute in an attempt to distort the law and smear Kari Lake in the process. Kris Mayes should immediately say that she will have no part in this shameful, disgusting effort,” LaSota said in a statement emailed to The Arizona Sun Times.

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State Representatives Seek Answers from Arizona Secretary of State over Elections Manual Concerns

Neil Jones

Arizona State Reps. Jacqueline Parker (R-Mesa) and Alexander Kolodin (R-Maricopa) sent an inquiry to new Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D), asking if he seeks to remedy errors in the state’s Elections Procedures Manual (EPM).

“Recent Arizona court decisions give us serious concerns about the lawfulness of former Secretary Hobbs’ 2019 EPM and 2021 draft EPM. Arizona law purports to authorize the EPM to achieve and maintain the maximum degree of correctness, impartiality, uniformity and efficiency in voting procedures throughout the state. But we question whether these mandates have been followed. We hope Secretary Fontes more fully evaluates where the prior Secretary overstepped her bounds and look forward to hearing how those errors will be corrected,” Reps. Parker and Kolodin said in a joint statement.

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