Sec. Adrian Fontes says DOJ lawsuit over Arizona voter data has ‘no sensible motive’

PHOENIX – Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said Thursday the Department of Justice “has a very, very weak case” regarding the voter information he refuses to hand over.

“There’s no sensible motive that’s been presented,” Fontes told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show.

On Wednesday, the DOJ added Arizona and Connecticut to the list of nearly two dozen states it is suing for refusing to hand over wide-ranging voter data, including driver’s license and Social Security numbers.

Fontes said he would have to break federal and state law to fulfill the request, something he won’t do.

“They’re asking for everything, much of which we are prevented from sharing because it’s a felony in Arizona to do so and it violates the 1974 Privacy Act — the Federal Privacy Act. So what the DOJ is asking us to do is on its face illegal. And so I’ve said no,” Fontes said.

Fontes said the DOJ made the same request to 40 states and only two have complied.

Why is DOJ suing Arizona’s Adrian Fontes to get voter data?

The DOJ cited enforcement of the National Voter Registration Act, Help America Vote Act and Civil Rights Act of 1960 as a basis for its authority to inspect voter registration data.

“Accurate voter rolls are the foundation of election integrity, and any state that fails to meet this basic obligation of transparency can expect to see us in court,” U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a press release announcing the lawsuits against Arizona and Connecticut.

Fontes suggested the DOJ is targeting Democratic secretaries of state in the 23 lawsuits filed to this point.

“I think the DOJ has a very, very weak case. I think their justifications are … completely shifting from here to there. And, what’s the motive for this at the end of the day? To me, that’s the ultimate $64,000 question,” he said.

Fontes, who told one DOJ official to “pound sand” in an exchange about the lawsuit on X, said Arizona was first contacted about the voter data last July, and he responded in August.

“They asked again; we answered them again,” he said. “We kept telling them, ‘No, it’s against the law. No, your justification doesn’t make any sense. No, this is an illegal request, y’all. Um, please stop asking me to break the law.'”

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