This November, voters will decide on a resolution amending the Arizona Constitution to further prevent noncitizen voting and foreign influence in elections.
House Concurrent Resolution 2001 passed the legislature along party lines last week. The Arizona Secure Elections Act, also known as the FAST Election Results Act, will appear on the general election ballot.
The resolution would amend the state constitution to repeat an existent declaration that only U.S. citizens may register and vote in Arizona elections. The resolution would also ban foreign nationals from contributing or expending money or anything of value to influence an Arizona election, and would require voters to show valid government-issued proof of identity for all voting methods prior to casting their ballot — including mail voting.
Republican State Sen. Alexander Kolodin (LD3), the resolution sponsor and secretary of state candidate, issued a press release describing the legislation as an opportunity for voters to establish better safeguards for elections by enshrining these proposed rules in the state constitution.
“For years, Arizonans have watched the same election problems repeat while trust in the system has eroded,” said Kolodin. “Election laws should be written by Arizonans, not dictated by bureaucrats, activists, or outside interests.”
Democrats and Republicans argued over the impact of the resolution during the Senate vote last Friday.
Senate Democrats criticized the legislation as redundant at best and a fatal threat to voting by mail at worst.
State Sen. Lauren Kuby (D-LD8) claimed the resolution was a “backdoor attempt” to end mail-in voting. Kuby accused Republicans of being stooges for President Donald Trump’s election policy preferences at the expense of Arizona voters.
“It’s disturbing to see the legislature put the desires of a sad, desperate man above their very own constituents,” said Kuby.
State Sen. Priya Sundareshan (D-LD18) called the bill “unnecessary” and filled with “vague” language, saying the state constitution’s present voter ID and citizenship proof requirements were enough.
State Sen. Analise Ortiz (D-LD24) said the bill was “voter suppression” and “a state-level SAVE Act.” Ortiz argued the resolution would enable lawmakers to repeal mail-in voting in the future. Ortiz claimed Trump was “plotting to meddle in the 2026 midterms.”
“The real goal of this is to make it harder for eligible voters to vote,” said Ortiz. “Our democracy is being systemically dismantled across the country.”
State Sen. Mitzi Epstein (D-LD12) said the legislation’s declaration that only citizens were eligible to vote was not only redundant and unnecessary, but that the other provisions would create an undue burden on mail-in voters.
“This bill opens the door to no more mail-in ballots,” said Epstein.
State Sen. Theresa Hatathlie (D-LD6) claimed the resolution was a template to “lay the groundwork for Project 2025.”
Republicans countered that existing voter registration requirements already require proof of citizenship, and that voters already anticipate security measures when casting ballots.
Majority Leader John Kavanagh (R-LD3) accused Democrats of “confusing the issue” and misleading voters.
“You’re only scaring people and creating a false argument,” said Kavanagh.
State Sen. David Farnsworth (R-LD10) said an increasing number of Arizonans have lost faith in their elections, and that this resolution was the means of remedying that sentiment.
“Our motive is not to make it more difficult to vote, but to make our elections more secure so that all of us can have confidence that those who vote their votes will be counted properly, and that those who win the most votes will be elected,” said Farnsworth.
State Sen. Jake Hoffman (R-LD15) argued that the “overwhelming majority” of Arizonans support these proposed provisions within the resolution.
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An attorney with America First Legal (AFL), the nonprofit created by President Donald Trump’s policy chief Stephen Miller, is running for a seat in the Arizona House.
AFL senior counsel James Rogers is gunning to represent LD10. For the past five years he has been in court challenging faulty election processes and other red-meat Republican issues. With that history heavily promoted, Rogers campaigns as one with the potential to be the foremost election integrity expert in the legislature.
Rogers’ platform also focuses on what he calls “straightforward” conservative issues: affordability to encourage family growth, election integrity, purging gender ideology from schools, protecting the unborn, stopping illegal immigration, and defending gun ownership rights.
Since Republican State Rep. Ralph Heap won’t be returning to represent LD10 — he’s running for the Arizona Corporation Commission — Rogers and State Rep. Justin Olson are running together as a slate.
There’s a third Republican candidate in the mix: Ciara Anderson, who moved to Arizona in 2021 from Washington state. Anderson has served as a Republican precinct committeeman and LD10 executive board member, and founded a mothers-focused coalition through Turning Point Action.
Two are running on the Democratic side: Brian Calaway and Helen Hunter. The No Labels party has one candidate: David Scott.
Rogers, a sixth-generation Arizonan, takes credit for drafting key Republican-led legislation like Proposition 314, the Secure the Border Act approved by voters in the 2024 election. The law criminalized illegal migration into the state and gave the state authority to act on immigration matters: state and local law enforcement may arrest illegal aliens, and state judges may order deportations.
A similar law in Texas, Senate Bill 4, has been challenged in federal court and would determine the fate of Arizona’s law. So far, Texas’s law has withstood legal challenges.
Rogers was senior litigation counsel at the solicitor general’s office for former Attorney General Mark Brnovich during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 to 2022. In that time, Rogers led on lawsuits against former President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates and border policies.
Prior to serving under Brnovich, Rogers was a foreign service officer with the State Department from 2015 to 2021. According to his April 2025 testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Oversight and Intelligence, Rogers endured retaliation for whistleblowing.
Rogers alleged that State Department leadership ignored Trump on policy to more thoroughly vet visa applicants during his first term, but that he complied and was punished for it through a denial of tenure. Rogers also reported that his rate of problematic visa issuances, such as overstays, was more than 50% lower than his colleagues’ while following the directive of Trump rather than his supervisors.
Rogers estimated that the number of visa overstays was two to four times higher than it would have been had State Department leadership complied with Trump’s orders.
“[T]he malfeasance of State Department consular managers during that time likely caused 900,000 to 1.4 million extra overstays that were easily avoidable. Most foreigners who overstay their visas do so with the intent of illegally immigrating and remaining in the United States long-term,” said Rogers. “To put that in perspective, ten U.S. states have populations of 1.4 million or less. In other words, consular managers working to subvert President Trump’s policies managed to add an entire state population’s worth of illegal aliens in just four years.”
Since joining AFL in 2022, Rogers has led on cases challenging the Biden administration, such as the alleged diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) discrimination that occurred within the federal government.
Rogers also testified before the House Judiciary Committee last March to discuss court-ordered immigration policy made through the landmark Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe (1982), which determined that states must permit children of illegal aliens to attend public school. Rogers argued that the decision was wrong, and that the legal framework used by the Supreme Court to overrule Roe v. Wade through Dobbs v. Jackson could be applied to overrule Plyler v. Doe.
“The Court’s role is to interpret the Constitution, not to serve as a policymaking body filling in the gaps left by legislative inaction,” said Rogers. “Where the Constitution’s text, history, and precedent all point in the same direction — and where the Court’s own analytical concessions compel application of a standard under which the challenged law would clearly survive — the Court must follow the law, not its own policy preferences.”
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Republican State Rep. Alex Kolodin (LD3) is one of two contenders vying to unseat incumbent Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.
Kolodin, a longtime election lawyer, has been in the Arizona legislature since 2023.
Kolodin has previously defeated Fontes under different circumstances.
In 2020, Kolodin won an Arizona Supreme Court case against Fontes which determined the latter, while Maricopa County Recorder, had wrongly told mail voters that crossing out votes wouldn’t spoil their ballots. That ruling allowed Arizonans to further challenge election officials on unlawful actions.
In 2024, Kolodin again defeated Fontes in court, securing a requirement for the latter to comply with duties under the National Voter Registration Act.
Earlier this year, Kolodin successfully passed an election integrity bill (HB 2022) to ensure Arizona’s election timeline aligned with federal requirements and protected military members overseas from disenfranchisement.
Kolodin also led on HCR 2001, the Arizona Secure Elections Act, which promises to strengthen voter ID requirements through an amendment to the Arizona Constitution. The measure passed the Arizona Legislature and is now headed to the statewide ballot. If approved by voters, the amendment would mandate voter ID, declare citizenship as a mandatory qualification for registering and voting in elections, ban foreign funding in elections, and limit ballot acceptance times to Election Day.
Facing off against Kolodin in the primary is former Arizona Republican Party Chair Gina Swoboda.
Kolodin and Swoboda debated last month, with PBS moderating. Both said voters desire more reasons to trust their elections: competence, transparency, reliability, and experience.
Swoboda acknowledged that many voters believe elections have been rigged in recent years, but that the state has addressed issues with the administration, Elections Procedures Manual (EPM), and equipment through legislation and court challenges.
“The way I say it is, when people say, ‘Was it stolen?’, they were stolen fair and square,” said Swoboda.
Swoboda said issues with the EPM would always exist, but that the only issues that matter are those that affect the outcome of the election.
“We just won everything that was winnable in [20]24,” said Swoboda.
Kolodin disagreed with Swoboda’s view that the issues with the elections system, namely the EPM, have been resolved. He pointed to the Pima County GOP lawsuit against Fontes which alleges that Fontes’ EPM threatens voters’ free speech.
“The voters of Arizona are ready to move forward and have an elections system that we can be proud of,” said Kolodin.
Kolodin also questioned why Swoboda continues to defend the exclusion of political party observers in the EPM. Swoboda said she was merely backing what the law was at the time.
Swoboda criticized Kolodin for his 2023 admonishment by the State Bar of Arizona. Kolodin was punished for participating in lawsuits challenging the 2020 election.
Kolodin defended mail-in voting as the right of Arizona voters, and said that his efforts in the legislature have been to make that voting method more secure.
“Arizonans love our mail-in voting. Most Arizonans use mail-in voting, and nobody is coming to take that away,” said Kolodin.
Similarly, Swoboda said that Arizona has used mail-in voting for a while and does it well, and indicated that Arizona has further to go to secure the voting method against potential fraud.
The two contended whether the ballot referral under HCR2001 would “crush” mail-in voting. Kolodin claimed Swoboda was “misleading” voters on the referral, which he said was measures to improve the security of mail-in voting. Swoboda claimed the county recorders stand opposed to the referral.
“The voters of Arizona are the only stakeholders that I care about,” replied Kolodin.
Kolodin said it was “extremely important” to boost voter participation, especially in rural areas. However, Swoboda said it wouldn’t be her job as the secretary of state to ensure voter turnout was high.
In closing statements, Kolodin said his focus was on restoring public perception of integrity in Arizona’s elections.
“What the voters have been waiting for is elections that we can be proud of again,” said Kolodin.
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A staple of Arizona’s most conservative coalition of lawmakers is running to rejoin the state legislature.
Anthony Kern is seeking to once again represent the 27th legislative district, held by incumbent Republican State Sen. Kevin Payne. Kern and Payne are the only two Republicans in the race; three Democrats have filed statements of interest.
Kern last represented that district in the Arizona Senate from 2023 to 2025. Kern departed from the state legislature in order to make his unsuccessful run for the 8th Congressional District in 2024. Prior to the state senate, Kern represented the 20th legislative district in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2015 to 2021.
While in the legislature, Kern built a reputation as one of its more outspoken conservative members. This was reflected by his membership with the Arizona Freedom Caucus, and A-ratings for conservative lawmaking from the Conservative Political Action Committee, NumbersUSA, American Conservative Union, National Rifle Association, and Keep Arizona Free.
Kern held a number of committee leadership positions, including chairmanships of the Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee and the House Rules Committee, and a vice chairmanship of the Senate Public Safety Committee.
President Donald Trump and Turning Point USA have been among a number of Republican powerhouses to take notice of Kern. Trump commended Kern as “an incredible fighter for election integrity,” and pardoned him from the 2020 Trump electors case put together by the Biden Department of Justice. Turning Point USA’s affiliate, Turning Point Action, has endorsed Kern.
Although the federal charges against Kern and other electors were dropped, Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes has pursued her own case. A court of appeals ruled last month in a loosely related case that Mayes illegally withheld communications in which she conspired with States United Democracy Center to prosecute Trump’s allies.
Prior to joining the legislature over a decade ago, Kern worked in municipal code enforcement and other public safety roles in the West Valley.
It appears that this background — combined with his repeated public commitments to limiting administrative rulemaking and expanding legislative oversight of regulations — has influenced a take from Kern that puts him at odds with other Republican lawmakers, though not with fellow conservatives.
Kern’s platform includes an opposition to automatic license plate readers (APLRs), such as the Flock Safety cameras. Unlike Kern, Payne as chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee sponsored a bill in support of APLRs earlier this year, SB 1111.
Other aspects of Kern’s platform include healthcare reform, proposing health providers must offer one single price for products and services, and health insurance premiums and medical expenses must be tax-free; and private property protections, proposing a removal of certain alleged loopholes to squatter prevention laws.
Kern has described himself as pro-life, an election integrity advocate, an opponent to illegal migration, and a supporter of parental rights and school choice.
He has lived in LD27 for nearly 40 years and attends Fresh Start Church in Peoria.
The Arizona Clean Elections Commission is scheduled to host the LD27 primary debate on June 22.
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The Arizona Republican Party is ramping up its election integrity operations ahead of the 2026 election cycle, naming attorney Greg Roeberg as legal counsel to oversee legal strategy and respond to anticipated election-related disputes.
Under the leadership of Chairman Sergio Arellano, party officials said Roeberg will help guide legal strategy and election-related operations in the lead-up to statewide races, including a competitive contest for attorney general.
Roeberg, an Arizona-based attorney with experience in business and government law, has served as an election integrity attorney for the Republican National Committee, President Donald Trump, and Republican candidates in Arizona during the 2020, 2022, and 2024 election cycles.
In an exclusive statement to AZ Free News, Arellano explained that election integrity remains a central issue for voters heading into 2026.
“Election integrity is a mandate from Arizona voters, and Greg Roeberg has already proven he knows how to fight and win on that front— having represented President Trump and Republican candidates in the most consequential election battles in our state,” Arellano said.
Arellano also referenced ongoing disputes between Republicans and Arizona election officials, including Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, stating that the party is preparing legal resources to respond to election administration issues in the coming cycle.
“We have seen how far Adrian Fontes will go to assert his will to subvert fair and free elections, and the AZGOP stands ready now to protect voters,” Arellano said.
Roeberg said he is “honored to serve the Arizona Republican Party” and emphasized the importance of legal preparation ahead of the next election.
“After three election cycles in the trenches, I know what’s at stake in this state,” Roeberg said. “I’m ready to get to work alongside Chairman Arellano and our grassroots team to protect the voice of every legal voter in Arizona.”
Earlier in the 2026 cycle, Roeberg launched a campaign for Arizona attorney general before stepping aside to focus on election-related legal work.
The appointment comes as both parties continue building legal and campaign infrastructure ahead of the 2026 election cycle, with election administration and litigation expected to remain a central component of political strategy in Arizona.
