Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said Tuesday he is pushing back against the Department of Justice’s attempts to investigate alleged irregularities associated with the 2020 election in his state.
In a recent interview, Fontes expressed concerns that part of the DOJ investigation sought personally identifying information from Arizona voters, many of whom cast ballots by mail.
“But at the end of the day, 2020 is long over, and we have moved on,” Fontes said. “I’m happy to report … I also presided over the Electoral College when Donald Trump won Arizona in 2024 with 81% of the vote by mail.”
Fontes added that mail-in voting has been used successfully by both political parties in Arizona, and voters “love it.”
The secretary of state noted that then-Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich conducted a thorough investigation of the 2020 election and released a 24-page report.
“It’s been investigated. It has been investigated thoroughly and completely. It’s been litigated and relitigated,” Fontes said.
“What I’m hoping is that we can get away from the grievances of one candidate who lost in 2020 and move on to talk about all of the other things that Americans need to deal with,” he stated.
Fontes reiterated that an investigation by the Department of Justice would not be necessary.
“Arizonans trust these elections,” Fontes said. “Arizonans want to move toward making sure they can take care of all the other issues happening in their lives.”
Fontes also highlighted Arizona’s robust election safeguards, including citizenship checks and a requirement for voters to present photo identification at polling places.
“Every ballot in Arizona is a ballot on paper,” Fontes said. “I understand there’s a lot of people who are still hearing about voting machines and no IDs and things of this nature.”
The secretary of state emphasized that Arizona follows the law in executing elections, calling it “a human endeavor.”
“All that means is we’ve got to keep working to make it better and better,” he added.
Fontes vowed to cooperate with any DOJ subpoena.
“We’re going to do what’s legal, which is all we’ve ever done,” he said.
