Adrian Fontes rejects voter purges after SCOTUS election ruling

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes says he’ll use a federal citizenship-checking database the U.S. Supreme Court cleared for the Trump administration on Friday, but not to purge voters from the rolls.

The ruling lets the administration move ahead, for now, with a revamped version of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system, or SAVE, which the Department of Homeland Security uses to check immigration and citizenship records.

It comes just weeks before voters start filling out midterm ballots.

“The feds don’t run our elections,” Fontes, a Democrat running for reelection, said Friday on KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Outspoken with Bruce & Gaydos.

Critics say it can wrongly flag citizens as noncitizens

In Texas, Anthony Nels, who became a citizen more than a decade ago, was flagged last year, and his registration was temporarily canceled.

That’s the kind of mistake Fontes said he is trying to avoid.

“The fed data is garbage,” Fontes dubbed.

Arizona already requires proof of citizenship in elections

Fontes said his office uses SAVE to help people prove they’re citizens. For example, it can find naturalization records so a voter can cast a full ballot.

Anything the system turns up gets double-checked, he explained.

What it should never be used for, Fontes warned, is wiping people off the rolls in bulk.

“You don’t want to deny eligible U.S. citizens their right to vote just because you’re chasing that tiny little handful of folks who might,” Fontes said.

The ruling’s immediate effect may be limited. States don’t have to use SAVE, and federal law bars most states from systematically removing voters within 90 days of an election.

Fontes also pushed back on talk that President Donald Trump could declare martial law around Election Day.

“The president can’t declare martial law,” he said. Armed federal agents, including immigration officers, can’t be stationed at polling places, he added.

His message to voters: Don’t panic.

“We’re going to have an election in ’26,” he said. “It’s going to go fine.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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