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.
