Two years ago, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ office leaked protected voter data and decided to hide it from the public.
Fontes was only found out on his breach of confidential information through public records requests.
Email records obtained by Votebeat revealed that almost nine months went by before Fontes’ office noticed their mistake.
Personal information belonging to hundreds of voters registered with the Address Confidentiality Program (ACP) was exposed after Fontes staffers handed it over as part of public records requests.
Those belonging to the ACP are victims of domestic violence, sexual offenses, and/or stalking, or are members of law enforcement or the court system. ACP voters receive a substitute address and confidential mail forwarding services to prevent past or potential assailants, and the public in general, from discovering their location.
About 3,000 Arizonans are enrolled within the ACP.
An example of an ACP voter emerged last week in Arizona’s Family coverage of the program’s funding absent from state budget proposals put forth by both Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Republican-led legislature. One ACP enrollee who goes by “Tina” told the outlet that the end to the ACP would likely result in her harm.
“I’ve been safe for many years, but I haven’t forgotten how dangerous this person can be,” said Tina.
Voters like Tina were exposed to potential harm by Fontes’ office.
In 2024, Fontes’ office publicized the home addresses and telephone numbers of about 400 ACP voters — at the time, approximately 15 percent of those voters within the program.
Fontes’ office has blamed a late employee for the data exposure, Craig Stender, who passed away earlier this year. The office fired him shortly after the discovery of the voter data breach. Stender was the director of voter registration, administration, and technology.
Chief of Staff Keely Vardel told members of the media that Stender gave the wrong instructions to an analyst for pulling voter records in order to comply with public records requests.
“Unfortunately, we have members of our staff that fell down on the job and didn’t follow those policies and procedures,” Vardel told Votebeat. “We certainly apologize for it, and we’re doing all we can to try and make sure [impacted voters were] aware that it happened, be transparent about it, and frankly, hold people accountable.”
Stender maintained in emails that he never told the analyst to use a certain registration database search component that pulled confidential voter information.
At least five political data firms and one researcher with the University of Arizona received the exposed data.
Fontes, who is running for reelection, still hasn’t spoken publicly on the matter.
State Sen. J.D. Mesnard (R-LD13) said voters were justified in casting doubts over the ACP, which he established through legislation back in 2011 under former Gov Jane Brewer, a fellow Republican.
“The trust factor is broken, and [voters are] always going to wonder, how protected is it?” said Mesnard.
Hobbs, while the secretary of state, made a similar error in 2020 when her office released the records of nearly 80 protected voters’ information while using the state voter database for generating early ballot reports.
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