Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes is expected to make an appearance in Maricopa County Superior Court this week to answer for his decision to put highly irregular instructions on mail-in ballot materials.
On August 17, a cease and desist letter was sent by attorney Alexander Kolodin on behalf of Arizona voters to Fontes regarding the instruction to correct erroneously marked ballots with a cross out. According to Kolodin, the suggested cross out cure opens the door to ballot tampering.
“Adrian Fontes wrote our office a letter telling us and every voter concerned about the integrity of our elections, to take a hike. We sued him. The law requires that Maricopa County’s election tabulating equipment automatically count and record every ballot cast according to the instructions with perfect accuracy – something that Fontes has intentionally made impossible by messing around with the instructions his office gives. This is either incompetence of malevolence but either way, it ends here,” Kolodin told the Arizona Daily Independent.
The instruction raised the eyebrows of both lawmakers and candidates alike during the primary cycle.
Houston, we have a problem. Voter fraud is now easier than ever. If you see a ballot where someone made a mistake and voted for the wrong person you can just strike it out and change it. pic.twitter.com/vRRieihdLh
— Warren Petersen (@votewarren) July 11, 2020
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