By Staff Reporter |

The secretary of state’s office is promoting a website newly launched this year aiming to debunk misinformation concerning Arizona elections.

Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who has earned a reputation for dispensing misinformation himself, launched the website, arizona.vote, earlier this year ahead of the primary election.

The secretary of state’s office also maintains social media accounts on X, Instagram, and Threads. On these three platforms, the office is posting election-related information aimed at “misinformation inoculation” as part of a new campaign.

Fontes told Capitol Media Services that some among the election systems skeptics and critics are acting based on bad intentions, and not out of genuine concern for election integrity. 

“The problem is there are people out there who are motivated to sow distrust even if the little issue that might pop up is minor and easily explained,” said Fontes. “Their goal is to capitalize on mistrust. And our goal is to make sure the public is inoculated against the potential mistrust.”

Fontes’ representation of critical election-related issues has been contested and, in some cases, overruled in court.

Last month, the Maricopa County Superior Court separately ruled that Fontes’ proposed ballot language for Propositions 212 and 145 had violated the law. In both cases, the court found that Fontes’ writing would have misled voters on critical decisions impacting school choice.

The secretary of state stated that the new website offers more than just misinformation debunking, but the remainder of the content only offers links to external webpages on voter registration and verification, ballot tracking, and information on voting and election deadlines. 

Since taking office, Fontes has worked to defeat narratives advanced by election skeptics and critics, mainly coming from the Republican Party. 

Last month, President Donald Trump issued an address to the nation in which he announced the declassification of documents purportedly revealing “shocking vulnerabilities” opening up the nation’s election infrastructure to hacking and foreign interference. Trump also alleged that members of “the deep state” worked to suppress both public and elected official knowledge of election meddling. 

These documents were released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force. In part, the document dump revealed intelligence community assessments that the interference from foreign adversaries had the potential to alter data to prevent voting, delay voting on election day, or force voters to use provisional ballots. 

Fontes immediately countered with a statement defending the integrity of Arizona’s election system, and challenged the Trump administration to share what, if any, credible evidence of criminal activity or unlawful voting in Arizona it had found. 

“Arizona has some of the strongest election laws in the nation,” said Fontes. “We verify voter eligibility, enforce voter identification requirements, maintain clean voter rolls, protect voters’ personal information, and conduct transparent, auditable elections in partnership with our county recorders.”

Fontes has also defended the practice of mail-in voting. A whistleblower recently alleged that USPS has begun work to implement Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting in spite of a preliminary federal injunction. Fontes filed a declaration in California’s case challenging Trump’s executive order, citing the prevalence of mail voting in the state. Approximately 80% of registered voters receive a mail ballot according to the secretary of state’s latest count.   

Along with voicing his opposition to Republican-led election reforms in his official capacity, Fontes has also positioned himself within his reelection campaign as a defender of Arizona elections against skeptics and critics. 

Fontes is defending his seat from his opponent, Republican lawmaker Alexander Kolodin, whose is responsible for legislation that is credited for vastly improving the election process this year.

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