Arizona Secretary of State condemns judge’s ruling that blocks new voter, poll worker protections

PHOENIX — Protecting Arizona voters and election workers is one of Adrian Fontes’ top priorities. That’s why Arizona’s secretary of state added new provisions to block voter intimidation in the state’s latest elections manual.

Some of those provisions included new rules designed to prevent voter intimidation. The manual defined behaviors that count as harassing or intimidating, such as yelling at people returning ballots or openly carrying firearms within 250 feet of a ballot drop box.

Regardless of a judge’s recent decision to declare those provisions unconstitutional, Fontes said he intends to fight for these voter protections.

“I’m going to fight like heck to make sure that we have peaceful processes so that our voters are treated with dignity during this incredibly important point in time,” Fontes told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Wednesday.

The Democrat said his office plans to file an appeal to protect voters across the state. He hopes to expedite this process as quickly as possible because the general election on Nov. 5 is three months away.

Background on the lawsuit over the Arizona Elections Manual

The judge’s decision to block provisions intended to protect voters and poll workers stems from a recent lawsuit the Arizona Free Enterprise Club filed against Fontes’ office.

The legal battle came down to the constitutionality of the Arizona Elections Manual, which outlines the rules for county, city and town elections throughout Arizona.

The Arizona Free Enterprise Club took umbrage with the latest updates made to the manual. In fact, the club legally challenged the constitutionality of its newer sections.

Some of those newer sections include rules specifically forbidding people from blocking the entrance to a voting location. They also crack down on following poll workers or voters coming or leaving voting locations from their vehicles.

“This is some of the language that we put in there, which was also in the 2019 manual, by the way, that the Enterprise Club wanted to block and they have now blocked,” Fontes said.

The block came after the Arizona Free Enterprise Club filed a complaint against the Arizona Elections Manual in February. The club claimed the rules were unconstitutional and put protected political speech at risk of criminal prosecution.

Arizona judge supports Free Enterprise Club in elections lawsuit

A judge with the Superior Court of Maricopa County took the club’s side. Judge Jennifer Ryan-Touhill ruled that various provisions in the newest elections manual meant to protect ballot workers and voters restricted Arizonans’ free speech.

Her ruling, filed on Monday, said the changes designed to stop voter intimidation were “overbroad” and “unenforceable.”

“We applaud the court’s protection of Arizonans’ First Amendment rights during the exercise of their sacred privilege to vote in free and fair elections,” Scot Mussi, president of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, said in a press release. “The judge correctly realized that certain portions of Secretary Fontes’ illegal and radical manual were nothing more than a brazen attempt to destroy the integrity and transparency of state elections.”

The club is “dedicated to advancing a pro-growth, limited government agenda” in the state, according to its website.

Fontes wants to block voter intimidation efforts

Fontes strongly disagrees with the group’s position.

“The Free Enterprise Club is doing a bad thing here and they’re absolutely unjustified in doing what they’re doing, pretending like some weirdo who wants to scream at voters has more important First Amendment rights than the voters who are peaceably assembled to vote,” Fontes said. “That is absolutely wrongheaded and I am not going to stand for it.”

Fontes said the club’s claims of defending free speech don’t pass the smell test. In reality, they will degrade voter protections, he said.

He also called for donors to the Free Enterprise Club to examine its actions.

“You better call them up and ask them if they really want chaos out there and they want Arizona to continue to put the AZ in ‘crazy,'” Fontes said.