Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes has lost his court battle to hide the name of registered voters who failed to provide proof of U.S. citizenship.
On Thursday, the Superior Court of Arizona issued a ruling in America First Legal’s (AFL) lawsuit against Fontes and the Secretary of State’s Office, ordering Fontes to immediately produce the list of individuals who registered to vote without providing proof of citizenship as required by law. The number of individuals affected by this issue is approximately 218,000.
Fontes announced in September that a longtime computer glitch had allowed 218,000 individuals to register to vote without providing proof of citizenship, even though Arizona law requires such proof. Earlier this month, AFL sued to obtain this list on behalf of the Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, known as “EZAZ.org.”
Arizona’s Public Records Law requires Fontes to produce this type of voter information for members of the public who request it, and Secretary Fontes’s Office regularly produces voter lists in response to such requests. After Fontes ignored that law and refused to hand over these records, AFL swiftly sued to demand accountability.
AFL says this lawsuit is “critically important to the integrity of the upcoming presidential election as the official results for the presidential race in Arizona 2020 list the margin of victory as being only 10,457 votes.”
The Secretary of State’s Office must produce this list by Monday, November 4, 2024 — one day before the November general election.
Upon obtaining the list, EZAZ.org intends to immediately share it with the County Recorders in all Arizona counties so that they can verify the citizenship of voters who have not already provided proof of citizenship, as required by Arizona law (A.R.S. § 16-121.01 and 16-165).
The Arizona Legislature also requested this list from Secretary Fontes and was denied by his office as well, for reasons the court found not credible.
In their ruling, the Court wrote:
Secretary Fontes testified it was his opinion that, if provided with a copy of the list of Affected Voters, elected members of the Arizona Legislature would undoubtedly provide the list to third party groups with the specific intent to encourage third party groups to engage in violent or harassing behavior, resulting in possible death or injury. The Secretary’s claims were not credible and not supported by evidence.
Secretary Fontes is such a buffoon! pic.twitter.com/lF0uOGKJYZ
— Rep. Alexander Kolodin (@realAlexKolodin) October 31, 2024
EZAZ.org says it intends to share the list with the leadership and election committees of the Arizona House and Senate.
At trial, Secretary Fontes testified that his office only possesses a partial list of 98,000 of the 218,000 affected individuals because the Arizona Motor Vehicles Division has not yet provided him with a complete list. However, the court found that Secretary Fontes “provided inconsistent testimony on this point” and that “[h]is testimony suggested that he lacked detailed familiarity with the AZSOS’s efforts with regard to the issue and with regard to the records in the possession of the AZSOS related to the 218,000 individuals.”
The court’s order requires Secretary Fontes to produce the list of 98,000 individuals that he has along with any other personally identifying information that he has about the 218,000 individuals.
“A majority of Arizonans no longer trust the election system of our state,” stated James Rogers, America First Legal Senior Counsel. “One of the reasons is the lack of transparency from our state’s elected officials. When Secretary Fontes discovered the glitch that allowed 218,000 individuals to register without providing proof of citizenship, he should have immediately shared the list of affected individuals with Arizona’s county recorders, who are in charge of verifying the citizenship of voters. Instead, he has jealously guarded the list, refusing to share it with anyone. This suit was about restoring transparency and ensuring that county recorders can do their jobs by verifying the citizenship of voters. It is unfortunate that Secretary Fontes so aggressively opposed our common-sense efforts to help restore trust in our state’s election system. This was a case we never should have needed to file.”
While America First’s lawsuit was paid for from their own pockets, Arizona taxpayers will be paying the costs resulting from Fontes’ refusal to follow the law.
Imagine all that and Gallego as one of our state Senators! Think this election might be consequential?
Whether the AZ Secretary of State is Fontes or his predecessor Hobbs they have been proven as obstructionists to Arizona’s election processes. They have given “inconsistent” testimony. Another way to say they have lied under oath. They have interfered with county election officials duties of monthly purging of voter rolls. And they refuse public information requests. It appears AG Mayes only pursues perceived bias as crimes worth investigating rather than obvious fact based crimes which threaten Arizona election integrity. Fontes runs the state election processes with the integrity of a third world dictatorship. Deflect- Ignore- Obstruct. And when that doesn’t work- blame the system or Trump.
I like Richards comment…put Fontes in jail until he can produce the illegal votes!
No wonder Fontes claims of violence were not valid..the violence we’ve seen around elections has all come from the left! Even the peaceful march to the capitol on Jan 6 were unarmed protesters…well except for Ray Epps & all the other operatives who were instigating riot like behavior.
Communists/nazi/socialists can’t handle truth! They lose their collective mind! The hive will do anything to protect the Soros/Bezos & Klaus backed elitists at the top! Dont you know “they have to keep control over us minions because they know what is good for us?” I pray these bastards fall like dominoes.
Many Democrat politicians are criminals, communists and traitors.
Here’s another example
They have a steal already in place. They are crooked as a dogs hind leg. They have to steal elections, because their policies do not work for Americans. This is about their ability to continue to put our money, into their pockets.
“a longtime computer glitch had allowed 218,000 individuals to register to vote without providing proof of citizenship” <== "glitch" is the 2024 code word for "fraud". Michigan and Colorado got caught with "glitches", too. Pennsylvania is openly ushering illegals past the citizens into the polls while fake election officials wearing "Voter Protection" badges are keeping conservative-looking citizens from voting.
"Too Big to Rig" is producing an even bigger rig.
Put him in jail until the required documents are provided
those votes if already cast need to be – eliminated unless citizenship is proved. If these votes cast without citizenship were with intent – those voters need to have the courts brought to bear against them for violation of the law with intent. Fontes needs to be prosecuted if this voter fraud with done with intent to alter the election. This is not 2 or 3 votes – this is enough to change an election and many elements of the election process and results. All by the day before the election – my bet won’t happen – do I hear a tune from the 9th circuit court in the wind… or some other liberal court that will try to defend these votes and his actions… oh there’s nothing here move along?
Now we’re going to find out just how crooked Fontes really is.
now we are going to find not how crooked Fontes a given – but how crooked is the national effort with illegal votes = illegal ‘immigration’ = invasion and how coordinated this effort is on a national basis to overthrow the gov’t of the USA. Make no mistake – this is a war.
This is a war we cannot win. Inept and overtly partisan officials get elected by the sheeple again and again. They completely took over all the policing and the courts. It would need decades to turn this around as it took decades to establish the current system.
I believe we already knew how crooked fontes was is and will always be. How does this guy keep getting opportunities to corrupt elections??
Because the sheeplike idiots keep voting him in!! 🤬