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PHOENIX (CN) — The Department of Justice sued Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes on Tuesday for refusing to produce the state’s full, unredacted voter registration list, making it the 23rd state sued for access to voter records since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Fontes, a Democrat elected in 2022, has thrice refused the DOJ’s requests, citing both state and federal laws regarding voter privacy and state authority over its own rolls.
Still lacking substantial evidence, Trump, since 2020, has pushed claims of mass voter fraud. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who replaced Merrick Garland when Trump returned to office last year, says the DOJ will use the states’ voter rolls to screen for illegal voters and crack down on fraud.
“Accurate voter rolls are the foundation of election integrity, and any state that fails to meet this basic obligation of transparency can expect to see us in court,” Bondi said in a press release.
In a brief eight-page lawsuit filed in Arizona federal court, the DOJ says it has a responsibility to ensure Fontes and the state are in compliance with the Help America Vote Act and the National Voter Registration Act, both of which require states to maintain personally identifying information on each voter and to make reasonable efforts to remove ineligible voters from the rolls.
“Accurate voter rolls are essential to ensuring that American citizens’ votes count only once, and only with other eligible voters,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in the press release. “The Justice Department is committed to safeguarding fair and free elections, and will hold states accountable when they refuse to respect our federal elections laws.”
Arizona has remained in the hot seat for election fraud claims since 2020, though courts have dismissed legal challenges to its voter roll maintenance for being too speculative.
The DOJ claims that the Civil Rights Act of 1960 gives the attorney general authority to request any and all voter records maintained by the states. Fontes says he can’t turn the records over to the federal government without first redacting sensitive personal information like social security numbers and birth dates.
The DOJ first requested the voter rolls on July 28, 2025. Fontes responded on Aug. 8, 2025, refusing the request. The DOJ again wrote to Fontes on Aug. 14, 2025, reiterating that all records must be turned over and be fully unredacted. Fontes refused again.
On Dec. 19, 2025, Fontes refused a third time.
“They’re going to have to put me in jail if they want this information and have somebody else give it to them because I’m not going to do it,” Fontes said on a podcast hours before the DOJ filed its lawsuit. “It would be illegal of me to release the information to the Department of Justice as they have requested it. Period. They’re asking me to break the law.”
So far, no other states have caved to the administration’s requests.
Neither Fontes nor Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, also a Democrat, has responded to a request for comment.
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