Arizona Senate President Refers Democratic Election Officials To Federal Investigators Over 2020 Voter Data
Arizona State News
Arizona Senate President Refers Democratic Election Officials To Federal Investigators Over 2020 Voter Data
By Arizona State News
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen has referred Attorney General Kris Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to the Department of Justice for obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
The referral centers on letters from Mayes and Fontes asking Petersen for details about what voter data the state Senate provided to federal investigators during their 2020 election inquiry.
Petersen is running for attorney general to face Mayes in the 2026 election.
On Tuesday, Petersen sent a criminal referral to U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine.
He wrote that Mayes and Fontes made misleading statements to county election officials about complying with federal grand jury subpoenas.
The Senate president said their actions suggest inappropriate attempts to interfere with an ongoing investigation.
Federal Grand Jury Subpoena
On March 9, the U.S. Attorney's Office sent a subpoena to Senate President Petersen seeking documents as part of a criminal investigation into the 2020 election.
The request came just over two weeks after the former Department of Homeland Security shared voter data with the Trump administration.
Petersen said he handed over the records to the FBI in early April.
He pointed to lawyers who concluded the Senate had to comply with the subpoena.
Privacy Concerns Raised By Democratic Officials
In response, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said his office was working to identify legal options to secure personal voter information from the 2020 data that was shared.
Mayes and Fontes both expressed concern that the Senate's massive trove of electronic records from the 2020 election included sensitive voter information protected by 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.
On March 31, the Attorney General's Office sent Petersen a letter asking for more details on exactly what he gave the FBI.
The letter specifically 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's Response
Petersen did not respond to the March 31 letter from Mayes.
However, he forwarded both the March 9 and March 31 letters to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona.
Petersen wrote to U.S. Attorney Courchaine that the request was especially concerning given the misleading statements made by Mayes and Fontes to county election officials.
He argued that compliance with federal grand jury subpoenas is required under the United States Constitution.
Democratic Response
Mayes fired back in a written statement saying Petersen inexplicably remains an election denier six years later.
She pointed to the fact that Republicans at the county and state levels managed the 2020 election and all audits, recounts and reviews determined it was safe, secure and free of widespread fraud.
Mayes called the GOP-approved audit laughable and said Petersen is wasting taxpayer money on a legal opinion that tries to justify his failure to uphold Arizona's constitutional right to protect its voters privacy.
She also claimed Petersen is working to lay the groundwork to deny the 2026 midterm election results if they do not go Trump's way.
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 will not work.
He said political threats are not going to deter him from working to protect Arizona's voters.
Legal Opinion Commissioned By Petersen
The Senate president included a legal opinion he commissioned from Brett Johnson, an Arizona election attorney with Snell and Wilmer.
Johnson concluded that Petersen acted appropriately in responding to the federal subpoena.
The attorney also claimed that the arguments made by Mayes and Fontes against providing voter data to federal investigators are legally unsound.
Background On The 2020 Election Investigation
The Trump administration has been pushing to gain unfettered access to Arizona's voter data for months.
Trump and his allies have been rehashing debunked conspiracy theories that Arizona's 2020 election results were fraudulently rigged in favor of former President Joe Biden.
That inquiry has been preemptively discredited by a Republican-backed audit of Arizona's election results in Maricopa County.
The audit still found that Democrat Joe Biden won the race.
Political Context
Petersen is running in the Republican primary to become Arizona's next attorney general.
Nearly all of Arizona's state-level elected officials are Democrats.
Petersen has previously asked the feds to open investigations into Democratic officials who inform the public about immigration raids.
He has become known for using federal law enforcement to target political opponents.
His request for a federal inquiry into Mayes and Fontes appears to be an extension of that pattern.
What Comes Next
The Department of Justice has not yet announced whether it will open an investigation into Mayes and Fontes.
Federal prosecutors have broad discretion to decide whether to pursue criminal referrals.
If the DOJ opens an investigation, it could take months or even years to resolve.
Mayes and Fontes have indicated they will continue to push back on any attempts to access sensitive voter data from the 2020 election.
The attorney general has vowed to defend Arizona's elections and said she will not be deterred from doing so.
Fontes has said his concerns about protecting voter privacy remain valid and will not be silenced by political threats.
Sources:
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https://www.kjzz.org/politics/2026-04-07/az-senate-president-accuses-mayes-fontes-of-witness-tampering-and-obstruction-in-referral-to-doj
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https://www.azfamily.com/2026/04/08/arizona-senate-president-warren-petersen-wants-doj-investigate-mayes-fontes/
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https://www.ms.now/opinion/in-fight-over-voter-data-arizona-officials-denounce-republicans-call-for-doj-probe