Arizona Senate President Refers Attorney General and Secretary of State to DOJ Over Election Investigation

State Senate President Warren Petersen has officially referred Attorney General Kris Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to the U.S. Department of Justice for obstruction of justice and witness tampering, alleging they interfered with a federal grand jury investigation into Arizona's 2020 presidential election.

Petersen announced the referral on social media on Tuesday, writing:

Today I referred Kris Mayes and Adrian Fontes to the Department of Justice for obstruction of justice and tampering with a witness. It is disturbing to see their resistance to an election integrity investigation.

The controversy centers on a federal grand jury investigation tied to records from Arizona's 2020 election and the Maricopa County audit. The FBI quietly seized Maricopa County election data and voting records via a grand jury subpoena.

According to reports, the probe involves allegations from the 2024 election that Runbeck Election Services, the private company that provides ballot printing and mail-in ballot services in 31 states, allegedly commingled voted ballots with blank ballots in multiple states.

Petersen alleges that Mayes and Fontes attempted to interfere with that investigation by:

• Warning county officials not to comply with federal subpoenas
• Suggesting that turning over voter data could be illegal
• Potentially discouraging cooperation with federal investigators

Mayes and Fontes both Democrats, criticized Petersen after he turned over records from the Senate's audit of the 2020 election to the FBI in response to a grand jury subpoena.

The Democratic officials sent a letter to Arizona county recorders on March 9, urging them not to provide confidential voter data to federal investigators, even in response to a grand jury subpoena.

On March 31, the Attorney General's Office sent Petersen a letter asking for more details on what exactly he gave the FBI. Specifically, the letter asked whether Petersen provided voter data for people whose private information is protected by state law, including those participating in the state's Address Confidentiality program.

Petersen, who is running in the Republican primary to become Arizona's next attorney general to face Mayes in November, didn't respond to that letter. However, he forwarded the March 9 and March 31 letters to U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine.

Petersen's legal team at Snell & Wilmer reviewed the letters and concluded the actions were inappropriate and potentially criminal.

"The Attorney General and Secretary's March letters are not merely inappropriate—they are legally reckless," the Snell & Wilmer letter states. "Their professed concern for Arizonans' privacy rings hollow when measured against their willingness to misstate the law to advance a political agenda, and to threaten public officials with criminal prosecution for complying with a valid federal court process."

This request is especially concerning in light of the attorney general and secretary of state's misleading statements to county election officials that compliance with federal grand jury subpoenas requesting election related information is illegal, Petersen wrote to U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine.

Mayes and Fontes have long argued that the Trump administration's attempts to gain unfettered access to Arizona's voter data would violate federal and state privacy laws.

The attorney general is currently representing Fontes in a federal lawsuit filed by Trump's Department of Justice seeking to force the secretary of state to turn over that information.

But Petersen argued state and local officials must comply with federal grand jury subpoenas.

"The threats of the attorney general and secretary of state are incompatible with the United States Constitution, which enshrines the grand jury in our constitutional order, and only serve to hinder voters' confidence in our elections," he wrote.

Mayes and Fontes responded by condemning Petersen's referral.

This is yet another example of Petersen desperately seeking favor from a president who cannot accept that he lost his re-election in 2020 fair and square, Mayes said in a statement. She said the Trump administration's inquiry is about laying the groundwork to potentially deny the results of this year's midterm elections.

No matter what Warren Petersen or the Trump administration have to say, I took an oath to uphold our Constitution and defend our elections and I will not be deterred from doing so, Mayes said.

Fontes issued a similar statement, saying his concerns about sensitive voter data remain and that efforts by Petersen and the Trump administration to threaten him won't work.

Political threats are not going to deter me from working to protect Arizona's voters, Fontes said.

Petersen previously clashed with Mayes on social media earlier in March over a lawsuit over Arizona's sex offender registry laws, accusing her of being soft on crime.