Top Arizona officials warn FBI may use election probe to seize voter rolls sought by DOJ

As the FBI probes the 2020 election in Maricopa County, senior Arizona officials are warning that the bureau may try to use the investigation as a way to short-circuit an ongoing lawsuit and obtain the state’s full unredacted voter rolls.

In a joint letter this week, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) and Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) told all Arizona county recorders to refuse any federal subpoenas for full, unredacted voter files, saying that such a disclosure would violate federal and state laws.

“We cannot overstate the importance of protecting voters’ private data,” Fontes and Mayes wrote to the recorders, who control registration data in the state.

“The grand jury should not serve to circumvent Arizona’s ongoing lawsuit, and our offices will pursue all legal actions available to prevent the Department of Justice from misusing the grand jury process,” they added. 

The Department of Justice is currently suing Arizona, along with 28 other states and D.C., to obtain their unredacted voter rolls.

Earlier this week, Warren Petersen, the Republican president of the Arizona Senate, said he received and complied with a federal grand jury subpoena from the FBI seeking documents related to a legislative audit into Maricopa County’s federal election results.

Though it’s unclear exactly what information the FBI received through the subpoena, Petersen’s announcement revealed that the bureau has opened a probe into Arizona’s elections, likely as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to relitigate past votes and undermine future ones.

In an interview with Newsmax on Tuesday, Fontes said he believes the FBI’s investigation may be part of the DOJ’s efforts to obtain Arizona’s unredacted voter data. 

“I think this investigation is an end-around by the Department of Justice to get past Judge [Susan] Brnovich in the pending Department of Justice litigation to try to get and potentially compromise the personally identifying information of Arizona’s voters, which I’m charged to protect,” Fontes told Newsmax.

Fontes added that his office believes that the FBI may have already obtained similar information through its subpoena against Petersen. 

In an interview with CNN, Fontes said Petersen in total handed over 13 terabytes of data — including cast vote records and images of ballots — that was involved in the Arizona Senate’s chaotic and partisan audit of Maricopa County’s 2020 election. 

“Unfortunately, we also don’t know what kinds of voter data are in there,” Fontes said, adding that he’s requested a copy of the subpoena from Petersen.

The subpoena in Arizona echoed the bureau’s raid on an election hub in Fulton County, Georgia, in January. During the raid, the FBI took possession of 2020-related election materials that the DOJ was also attempting to obtain through a lawsuit.

Both Fulton and Maricopa counties have been leading targets in Trump’s attempts to challenge his loss in the 2020 presidential race, which he has repeatedly — and falsely — claimed was stolen from him.

In a social media post, Jen Wright, a controversial former official in the Arizona attorney general’s office known for challenging election results, claimed that Fontes and Mayes were committing “a conspiracy” and urging county recorders “to obstruct justice and violate grand jury subpoenas.”

“No one is above the law,” Wright wrote after tagging Attorney General Pam Bondi, the U.S.  Attorney’s Office in Arizona and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in her post.

In the letter, Fontes and Mayes asked the recorders to notify them if they receive a subpoena. Recipients of a subpoena have a legal right to challenge it if it’s unreasonable, imposes an undue burden or demands privileged confidential information.