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Arizona’s top law enforcement official and chief election officer are warning county officials not to hand over full, unredacted voter files to the federal government amid probes by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security into the state’s 2020 election.
Attorney General Kris Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes — both Democrats — wrote in a joint letter to county recorders that disclosure of such materials to the U.S Department of Justice would “violate both federal and state law.” They urged the recorders, who control voter registration data, to “fulfill your oath by declining any such illegal demands.” Mayes and Fontes stopped short of promising litigation against anyone who gave voter information to the federal agencies, though they hinted at it.
“Our offices are committed to upholding the sanctity of Arizona’s elections and democratic process,” the letter read. “We will pursue to the fullest extent of the law all possible remedies to ensure the integrity of Arizona’s elections and the privacy rights of its citizens.”
Their letter comes amid moves by President Donald Trump’s administration to relitigate an election he lost, and that was repeatedly upheld after being subjected to unprecedented challenges, reviews, and scrutiny.
It was sent out to counties hours after State Senate President Warren Petersen, a Republican, announced that he had received and complied with a federal grand jury subpoena for records related to the chamber’s controversial review of Maricopa County’s election results, which was conducted in 2021. That review ultimately concluded that former President Joe Biden had indeed defeated Trump in the state’s most populous county.
Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of DHS that typically focuses on transnational narcotics and trafficking investigations, has also been probing past elections in recent weeks. Records obtained by Votebeat via a public records request show that the agency asked Mayes’ office for records from the 2020 election investigation conducted by her predecessor, Republican Mark Brnovich. That investigation, similar to lawmakers’ audit, found no indication of widespread fraud or conspiracy. The HSI investigation was first reported by The Atlantic.
In addition, Fontes is currently engaged in a lawsuit with the DOJ over his refusal to provide versions of the state’s voter rolls that contain personally identifying information on voters. Such records include voters’ full birthdates, full or partial Social Security numbers, and driver’s license information.
So far, there are few indications that federal officials are going directly to counties, and the letter appears to be a precaution. Officials in Pinal and Yavapai Counties — among the state’s most conservative areas — told Votebeat that they had not received any requests for their voter rolls from the DOJ, and were unaware of any such requests submitted to other counties.
Calli Jones, a spokesperson for the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, called the letter “preventative” and “a full family reminder.” But she also noted Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap’s presence at a recent press conference in Scottsdale with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
Hours after that event, Heap, a Republican, issued a press release claiming that his office had identified 137 noncitizens on the county’s voter rolls by running a subset of voters affected by a longstanding state error through a digital database maintained by DHS. Experts have long warned that the system that the office used — called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE — is unreliable, suggesting the number is likely inflated.
Judy Keane, a spokesperson for the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, did not respond to Votebeat’s request for comment on the letter from Mayes and Fontes. She also did not reply to questions about whether the office had been approached by federal officials about providing its full voter rolls, and what Heap would do if that were to happen.
The office has repeatedly refused to answer questions about its use of the SAVE system or how it is handling suspected noncitizens on the county’s voter rolls. Votebeat requested copies of any notices sent to affected voters, but was told on Feb. 23 that no such records existed. The office has yet to respond to Votebeat’s subsequent requests for any notices.
FBI subpoena targets records from Maricopa County
The FBI’s subpoena of the Arizona Senate sought records related to the 2020 election in Maricopa County.
However, the agency has yet to seek records from the county itself.
That suggests that investigators obtained records that were largely already public. Most documents pertaining to the legislative review of the 2020 election were turned over to news outlets and advocacy groups that sued for public access to them in the wake of the review.
But the records that the county turned over to lawmakers and auditors included data downloaded from hard drives used during the 2020 election. Petersen confirmed to Votebeat that the records he gave the FBI contained ballot images.
That gives the agency some records similar to those it obtained when agents searched an election office in Fulton County, Georgia, in January. That unprecedented raid also sought records tied to the 2020 election.
The records Petersen turned over to the FBI may have also contained voter information. Fontes said in a statement that his office was “working to identify legal options to secure personal voter information in the 2020 data that was shared.” He called the FBI’s subpoena an effort to “undermine the legal process,” an apparent reference to the ongoing legal battle between his office and the Justice Department, and reiterated similar concerns in the joint letter to county recorders.
“If your office receives a federal grand jury subpoena demanding that you turn over voters’ private data, we urge you to notify our offices immediately,” the letter read. “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.”
Petersen said that the subpoena he received had indicated that a grand jury was impaneled in Phoenix. He declined to share the subpoena, or answer questions about whether it contained other information about the FBI’s investigation.
The FBI declined to comment on the focus of its investigation or to share a copy of the subpoena.
Lennea Montandon, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, declined to answer questions about exactly what the grand jury was investigating.
“Per policy, we do not comment on grand jury proceedings, any potential investigations or upcoming charges,” she said.
HSI inquiry into 2020 election appears focused on debunked claims
Emails between the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and an HSI investigator suggest that the federal agency’s inquiry could be focused on long-debunked claims about the 2020 election.
Mayes said in a statement that her office provided public records related to its earlier investigation of the 2020 election when it was first approached by local HSI leadership. Records show that state prosecutors provided Matthew Murphy, acting special agent in charge of HSI Arizona, with a summary of the review’s findings on Feb. 20.
“We were happy to share them, because those materials speak for themselves,” Mayes said, adding that the “exhaustive” investigation didn’t find any proof to substantiate allegations that the election had been stolen in Arizona.
A few days later, records show that Murphy followed up asking for any additional reports or findings. He said he was specifically seeking further information regarding disputed claims of late-arriving ballots included in certified election results, questionable ballots from unknown printers, and deletion of election records.
Such allegations have long since been disproven. Claims that early ballots that arrived late were still counted in 2020 originated from documents recording the transfer of ballots to a vendor for scanning. The date on that document didn’t reflect the initial receipt of those ballots by local election officials.
Similarly, small discrepancies between paper ballots sparked conspiracies that ballots produced by an unknown printer had been injected into the vote totals. But county officials used several different types of printers at polling locations in 2020, which accounted for those differences.
Trump and his allies also previously accused county officials of deleting files prior to complying with a subpoena from the Arizona Senate. Later, the founder of one of the firms hired in the chamber’s audit told lawmakers that he was able to recover and view the database, which county officials said auditors had not correctly retrieved from the system.
Records obtained by Votebeat show that prosecutors provided multiple reports in response to Murphy’s request for further information on the claims. He then followed up again, asking additional questions about claims of late ballots and unknown printers.
“Thanks for sharing guys much appreciated,” he wrote. “Couple of quick follow up questions based on my review and in trying to focus on the few areas we are following up on.”
Murphy did not respond to Votebeat’s request for comment. Prosecutors don’t appear to have responded further. Mayes called the investigation “unserious.” She said in a statement that the probe was “based on nothing but conspiracy theories and lies,” and noted that the office’s prior investigation never uncovered widespread fraud or malfeasance.
“Those conclusions were true then and they remain true now,” she said. “There was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election in Arizona.
In an email, a spokesperson for DHS declined to answer questions about the investigation, but said that the agency was “actively rooting out and investigating election fraud wherever it can be found.” The spokesperson, who did not identify themself and did not respond to a request to do so, said HSI had “repeatedly demonstrated that illegal aliens can and do vote in our elections,” pointing to a handful of arrests of noncitizens for alleged voter fraud. Research has long shown that such instances are extremely rare.
Sasha Hupka is a reporter for Votebeat based in Arizona. Contact Sasha at shupka@votebeat.org.
