Election Integrity

“According to a post by America First Legal on X, a U.K.-based organization is using its U.S. and Biden-Harris influence to silence Americans and end their right to free speech. The organization is called the Center for Countering Digital Hate, and in its short existence, it has a colorful history of interfering with free speech both in the U.K. and in the U.S.”

“Secretary of State Adrian Fontes was ordered on Thursday to turn over by Monday the voter registration information on 218,000 voters in Arizona who are registered to vote but who failed to provide proof of citizenship. He appealed the decision immediately afterwards, with two organizations submitting amicus curiae briefs supporting him, but the Arizona Court of Appeals issued an order Monday morning affirming the lower court’s decision to require the list in response to a public records request from America First Legal (AFL).”

“James Rogers, America First Legal Senior Counsel, said in a statement regarding the case, ‘When Secretary Fontes discovered the glitch that allowed 218,000 individuals to register without providing proof of citizenship, he should have immediately shared the list of affected individuals with Arizona’s county recorders, who are in charge of verifying the citizenship of voters. Instead, he has jealously guarded the list, refusing to share it with anyone.'”

“Senate President Warren Petersen announced on Monday morning that he received the list of 218,000 voters registered without proof of citizenship. 

These 218,000 voters (an increase from the initial estimate of nearly 100,000) had obtained their driver’s licenses prior to the 1996 requirement to apply with proof of citizenship, went on to get a duplicate license, and then registered to vote for the first time or re-registered to vote after 2004. For over 20 years, they were caught up in a compatibility error between the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and the state’s voter registration system. 

Later in the day, Fontes announced that voters can check whether they’re one of the affected voters through my.arizona.vote.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in September that these voters caught up in the compatibility error would be allowed to vote the full ballot. America First Legal sued Fontes last month to obtain access to that list of voters.”

“Adrian Fontes, Arizona’s secretary of state, said Monday that his office had handed over the names of hundreds of thousands of voters to lawyers for a right-wing activist group as ordered by a court, adding that he regretted having to do so and worried about the potential consequences.”

“’I tried to stop this,” he told reporters in a news conference in Phoenix. “I have fought as hard as I could to keep your names and your personal identifying information away from the folks who I don’t trust — and I have good reason not to trust them with that specific information.’”

“A judge had ruled that the voters on the list would be allowed to vote the full ballot in Tuesday’s election despite the error. But last month lawyers for America First Legal, an organization founded by the former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, sued for the release of the names of the affected voters on behalf of a right-wing group in Phoenix, the Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona.”

“The Arizona Court of Appeals on Monday affirmed a decision by a lower court that required the Secretary of State’s office to release a list of tens of thousands of voters who were mistakenly classified as having access to Arizona’s full ballot because of a coding glitch.

The court rejected an appeal by Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ office that sought to reverse the lower court’s order or at least suspend it. A group had sued in an effort to verify whether those on the list are in fact eligible to cast full ballots.

Fontes’ office had initially denied a public records request for the list of voters that was filed by America First Legal, a group run by Stephen Miller, a onetime adviser to former President Donald Trump. Fontes’ office cited concerns over the accuracy of the list and the safety of the voters included.”

“The Arizona Supreme Court handed a sound defeat to Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and a victory to the America First Legal Foundation and Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, known as ‘EZAZ.org.'”

“James Rogers, America First Legal Senior Counsel, celebrated the ruling saying, “A majority of Arizonans no longer trust the election system of our state. One of the reasons is the lack of transparency from our state’s elected officials.”

“America First Legal formally asked the Justice Department to review the Center for Countering Digital Hate under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, noting its connections to the U.K. and Scottish Labour Party, the Parliament of each, and the White House.”