On Wednesday, Cochise County Recorder David Stevens shared his concerns about the Democratic Party nominee in the Arizona Secretary of State’s 2022 Election, Adrian Fontes.
Mr. Fontes previously held the office of Maricopa County Recorder. During his tenure, Fontes violated his Oath of Office, as well as spread misinformation, fostered chaos, and lowered the standards to which the elected Recorders in all 15 counties are obligated to adhere to.
Recorder Stevens, as a former Arizona State Representative and U.S. Army veteran, has taken the same oath of office Mr. Fontes has on numerous occasions. Out of a deep commitment to election integrity, Stevens says he is concerned that Mr. Fontes has failed in his duties to be fair and unbiased in his decision making, has failed in his duties to uphold the laws of the state of Arizona, and has failed in his duties to provide confidence in Arizona’s election system.
“As someone who has dedicated their entire life in service of the State and our nation, and who understands the importance of election integrity, I cannot remain silent and allow the voters of Arizona to cast their ballot for someone who regularly thumbs their nose at our laws and standards,” Stevens said. “Election officials must approach their tasks with clarity, sobriety, and maturity, and Mr. Fontes has displayed none of those attributes while acting as an elections official.”
One of the facts Stevens cites to support his concerns is that Mr. Fontes concocted a plan in 2020 to print and mail nearly 200,000 early ballots to individuals who had not legally requested the ballots, despite the fact that Secretary of State Katie Hobbs told Fontes it was a violation of state law.
Fontes’ action forced the Arizona Attorney General to request and obtain a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) from a Maricopa County judge to prevent Fontes from carrying out his illegitimate ballot mailing scheme in what was already expected to be a difficult election cycle due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In another instance during the 2020 election cycle, Fontes spread misinformation about correcting ballot errors, and even went so far as to print up erroneous instructions for voter, which would have increased confusion, the likelihood that ballots would have to be cured, and ultimately delay vote processing.
Fontes’ actions in that case resulted in an expensive lawsuit for taxpayers and was finally resolved when the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Fontes “acted unlawfully” when he arbitrarily provided unapproved instructions to Maricopa County voters for the August 2020 Primary Election.
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