Adrian Fontes: Supreme Court mailed ballot ruling has ‘zero impact’ on Arizona

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said Monday that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision allowing mailed ballots to be counted after Election Day has no bearing on how Arizona conducts its elections.

“Zero impact on Arizona,” Fontes told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Outspoken with Bruce & Gaydos.

The court ruled in favor of Mississippi’s law allowing mailed ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive within five days. But Arizona is what election officials call an “in-hand state,” meaning ballots must be received by officials before polls close.

“The ballot must be in the hand of an election official by the time polls close, which is 7 p.m. on Election Day,” Fontes said.

He added that the court made a narrow decision, not a national mandate.

“Not only did they not make an overall constitutional ruling here, they only ruled on the Mississippi statute,” he explained.

Adrian Fontes calls postmaster ‘wrong’ on ballot delivery testimony

Fontes also pushed back on Postmaster General David Steiner, who told a Senate committee last week that under a proposed rule, the Postal Service would not deliver mail-in ballots in states that refuse to hand over voter rolls to the federal government.

“He’s wrong,” Fontes said. “The post office can’t change its rules willy-nilly in the middle of the game.”

 

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He said the proposed rule, which stems from a March executive order by President Donald Trump, must go through a formal regulatory process before it can take effect.

A federal judge blocked key provisions of the executive order last week, ruling it unconstitutional. The injunction bars the Postal Service from refusing to deliver ballots in Arizona and 23 other jurisdictions for the 2026 elections.

“There is an administrative procedure that’s required, and right now the post office is out with public comments for that very same rule,” he said. “Once the comments come in, then they have a whole set of procedures that they have to apply before they can actually adopt that purported rule.”

Fontes assured voters their ballots would be delivered.

“They’re going to mail you your ballot,” he said.

He encouraged voters to visit arizona.vote and sign up for Ballot Tracks, a program that sends text or email alerts when a ballot is mailed and when it is received by a county election office.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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