FACT CHECK: Kolodin Claims Fontes Tried to seize ballots and pick own voters.

FALSE CLAIM: Kolodin Claims Fontes Tried to seize ballots and pick his own voters.

FACT: The accusation is absurd. In the 2023 Election Procedures Manual, Fontes included a “canvass provision” addressing what would happen if a county board failed to certify its election results by the statutory deadline. The provision allowed the Secretary of State to proceed with the statewide canvass without including the delinquent county’s results. That could have resulted in legally cast votes from an entire county being excluded from the statewide totals. It was not a proposal for Fontes to physically seize ballots. U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi blocked that provision in September 2024 and used exceptionally strong language. He wrote:

“A nuclear weapon does not become any less dangerous simply because a world leader avows never to unleash it.”

He then said the provision imposed a “nuclear-level burden on voting rights” and described it as a weapon available to the Secretary if circumstances arose. Unlike Alexander Kolodin, Secretary Fontes respected the judge's ruling.

SOURCE: https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/arizona/azdce/2%3A2024cv01673/1387516/62/