In a smackdown that’s as much about common sense as it is about preserving democracy, a county judge just handed Arizona’s Secretary of State, Democrat Adrian Fontes, his latest wake-up call. Fontes had claimed that releasing a list of 218,000 Arizona voters affected by a long-standing citizenship verification glitch could somehow unleash violence by Trump supporters, effectively attempting to weaponize fear to withhold public information. But Judge Scott Blaney wasn’t buying it.
The issue dates back to a clerical error that incorrectly marked some Arizona residents as having provided proof of U.S. citizenship when they hadn’t, potentially allowing them to vote in state and local elections despite not meeting the legal requirements. This affected nearly a quarter-million people, mostly in the 45 to 60 age range, according to Fontes. Now, if you thought the sensible thing would be to fix the glitch, then you’re clearly not a bureaucrat like Fontes, who decided instead to block access to the list altogether, citing far-fetched fears of violence from Trump supporters.
Enter America First Legal, a conservative group, and EZAZ.org, who filed suit, demanding the list as a matter of transparency and election integrity. During the court proceedings, Fontes rolled out the big guns—namely, Robert Pape, a left-wing academic notorious for his obsession with “White Rural Rage” and all things January 6. Pape’s testimony claimed that disclosing the list would surely lead to violence but focused only on Trump supporters, based on what Judge Blaney called “speculation” and “national statistics.” Not surprisingly, Blaney wasn’t impressed, stating that Pape’s one-sided views on Trump supporters deserved “minimal weight.”
Judge Blaney’s ruling laid it out clearly: Fontes and his team presented no credible evidence that releasing this list posed any real danger. In fact, the judge pointed out that Fontes’ office regularly shares voter information through standard requests—without any concern about triggering Armageddon.
Fontes’ alarmist rhetoric went so far as to suggest that releasing the names would “necessarily lead to violence – even sure death.” But with no evidence backing this hyperbole, Blaney sided with the plaintiffs, ordering Fontes to hand over the list of voters. America First Legal aptly noted that this ruling was “critically important to the integrity of the upcoming presidential election.”
As James Rogers of America First Legal remarked, “Fontes should have immediately shared the list of affected individuals with Arizona’s county recorders… Instead, he jealously guarded the list, refusing to share it with anyone.” This case, Rogers added, was “about restoring transparency and ensuring that county recorders can do their jobs by verifying the citizenship of voters.”
Once again, we see a Democratic official treating election transparency like a four-letter word. This lawsuit and ruling may finally push Arizona’s election system closer to the transparency it desperately needs. While Democrats cry wolf over supposed dangers from Trump supporters, Americans can see the reality: the left’s fearmongering doesn’t hold water, and it’s clear that they’re more invested in stoking division than in upholding election integrity.
Judge Scott Blaney handed down a much-needed ruling against Arizona’s Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who had been blocking access to a list of voters affected by a citizenship verification glitch. Fontes argued that releasing the list could lead to violence from Trump supporters—a claim Judge Blaney dismissed as unfounded fearmongering. The ruling, hailed by America First Legal as critical for election transparency, underscores the left’s reliance on baseless scare tactics to avoid transparency and control the narrative.
